


Be The Father Of This Child!

by LauraSFox



Category: Original Work
Genre: Comedy, M/M, Misunderstandings, Smut, Unexpected Parenthood
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-10
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-16 21:55:11
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 25,698
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29339403
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LauraSFox/pseuds/LauraSFox
Summary: Jett Huntsman has his business straight, which is to scare schmucks into paying back what’s due. And yeah, he’s making shit tons of money while at it. Mostly because he’s good at it. Not that he brags.What he’s not good at, though, is how to deal with seeing a crying baby left in front of his house with the self-explanatory message: “Assume responsibility, asshole!”Jett has no time to think things through. He has schmucks to shake for money. So his kid, if that’s his kid, will have to come with him.The guy he’s supposed to scare enough to pay his debts is a total dweeb with a weird hippy name. This April Summer dude should know better than to piss off the wrong people. While he babbles about not having the money, he says the magic word - babies!Does this dweeb really know the first thing about kids? Jett doesn’t have time to think. April the Fool will take care of that crying baby if he knows what’s good for him. Especially since April seems weirdly familiar.(Disclaimer: No babies were made to cry during the writing of this story. Also, this is not intended as a parenting guide. Seriously.)
Relationships: Original Male Character/Original Male Character
Comments: 8
Kudos: 16





	1. It’s A Bouncing Baby Boy!

Chapter One – It’s A Bouncing Baby Boy!

Ding! Ding! Ding!

Jett opened his eyes. Was that seriously the doorbell? Who the fuck dared to wake him up before ten fucking AM? For a full minute, he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling, with a frown he hoped could be visible through the walls so that the moron who dared to ring his doorbell would get the message.

He pushed himself up. Where were his pants? He had them last night; that he remembered. Jett winced when he stepped on something cold and icky. 

“Oh, fuck!” 

What the hell was his ashtray doing on the floor? Obviously, he had put it there, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t entitled to a little bit of rage. Ah, at least he found his pants. They were hanging by the doorknob.

 _Wild night_ , he shook his head. Now, who the fuck was at the door? The sound had finally stopped, but now curiosity was bigger than the determination to strangle the idiot on the other side.

Maybe he could still catch the moron, and give him a piece of his mind. That thought put an immediate spring to his step. Jett went down the stairs, groaning an ‘I’m coming’. It was only fair to give the moron a bit of a head start.

He pulled the entrance door to him so fast that the hinges screeched and sighed. Ah, there was no one. Jett looked to the right, then to the left, and then … down.

“What the fuck?”

The only reply was a long, clearly aimed at him, wail. Jett shook his head. Was he having hallucinations? As much as he loved smoking, he was only particular to tobacco. So he couldn’t blame it on that.

At his feet, on his doorsteps, was a frigging baby! Strapped to a car seat, that kiddie version he saw advertised on TV, and screaming like a banshee. The baby was red in the face and clearly in some sort of emergency.

“Who are you, dude?” Jett crouched next to the baby who didn’t seem to care about his questions.

With a frown, Jett picked a small paper square that was caught with a small pin to the baby’s onesie. 

_Assume responsibility, asshole!_

Jett scratched his head. In the meantime, the baby seemed to be as distressed as earlier. “Hey, dude, not cool,” he said, pointing a finger at the baby. “I’m trying to think here.”

Did he leave some girlfriend pregnant? He continued to scratch his head. His man bun moved on top of his head, and that must have caught the baby’s attention, because the wailing stopped and instead, giggling could be heard.

“You like this thing?” Jett pointed at his top knot.

He knelt next to the baby, and, right away, sticky little hands were in his hair, pulling hard.

“Ouch! A bit too strong, aren’t you?”

The baby giggled again. Jett extracted his bun from the baby’s hands and began to examine the car seat for extra clues. That moment, his phone went off.

With a frown, he checked the message. “Just fucking great,” he murmured. 

But a job was a job, and Jett never said ‘no’ to whatever could bring him money. Except when it involved guys with a heavier punch than him. After all, he was a practical man and had no wish for a broken nose or worse. 

Without losing time with overthinking, he grabbed the baby with the car seat and all from the steps and began marching toward his car. “It looks like you’re riding with me, buddy,” he told the baby who was looking up at him with clear blue eyes. 

For a second, he studied the kid. Was there any resemblance that would ring a bell? The mom could be … well, at least several women. He usually used anti-baby devices, like condoms. Not with his steady girlfriends, though. He needed to make a list and start calling people. But that would have to come later. With a shrug, Jett opened the door to the backseat of his car.

And then he scratched his head again. He was pretty sure there had to be a way to put that car seat inside, but who the fuck knew about that stuff? After some deliberation – it wasn’t like he had much time on his hands, or his target would fly the coop – he decided to place the baby’s car seat inside and then used the existing seat belt in the back to strap him well.

He took one step back and admired his handiwork. Damn, it didn’t look that safe, did it? Well, it wasn’t much he could do. He would just have to drive slowly, like really slowly.

The kid didn’t seem too bothered with his lack of knowledge in the area of installing car seats for children. Well, then he wasn’t bothered, either.

Jett kicked the engine into gear and then watched the speedometer. “Slowly now, right, buddy?” He threw over his shoulder.

At least the kid didn’t scream when the car moved. Maybe the baby was used to riding. Who knew?

Jett checked for the last time the address where he needed to go. “April Summer,” he said to himself, “you’ll have to pay up, dude.”

***

Jett pushed one cigarette into his mouth and, without lighting it just yet, looked at the baby in the backseat. “You stay here, buddy. If you get bored, just imagine you’re my getaway driver.”

The baby looked at him and scrunched his nose. 

“And don’t cry. Crying pisses me off, okay?”

For the moment, the kid seemed to get the message. Jett climbed out of the car and walked away from it, not without looking at it a few more times.

He cracked his neck, once to the right, once to the left, and then lit his cigarette. April Summer sounded like some hippy name. It would be an easy job, and then he’d get back to see what the hell that kid had to do with him.

He ringed the doorbell a couple of times. His target lived in what looked like a complex for students and such. There were only singles, but, at that still morning hour – it was still before ten AM -, not many residents seemed to be at home. The message said the target would be present, though.

Finally, someone answered, and a head covered with tousled brown hair stuck through the door. Jett assumed his most threatening stance, his feet parted and his arms crossed. That didn’t stop him from sucking from his cigarette. It was a skill, to act like a human furnace, one girlfriend had told him. 

“April Summer?” he asked in a menacing voice, making the cigarette dangled between his lips.

From behind a pair of round glasses, two green eyes stared at him. Only for a second, because the next, Jett looked in disbelief at the door being shut in front of him.

“Fucking hippy,” Jett mumbled to himself and pushed against the door.

It surprised even him how easily that lock gave in. He walked inside and slammed the door behind him. Oh, shit. It was that kind of small apartment with a way through the back. He should have imagined. 

Without wasting another moment, Jett ran toward the other exit. In his path, he almost stumbled on what looked like a bunch of IT equipment. Was the hippy trying to set up his own shop? 

The back door was swinging in the wind, no wonder there. 

The hippy was fast, Jett had to give it to him. He was running like there was a fire lit under his ass, but Jett wouldn’t let him escape that easily. What was he thinking? This dweeb wouldn’t escape at all.

There was a narrow pathway that appeared to lead to a wooden fence, so Jett threw his cigarette and gave chase. April Summer seemed to be limber enough to jump over that, and he was dressed in a tracksuit that let him move with ease, but Jett wouldn’t let him get that far. 

“Stop running, you fucking idiot!”

His lungs were fucking burning. He was no runner, usually, because people didn’t think they could get away from him. This April dude was so going to get it for this.

Jett managed to catch his target, just as April was about to lift himself on the fence. Without thinking, he grabbed the other by the bottom of his tracksuit pants and pulled down hard.

Only to come face to face with a naked ass that practically bounced in quite a comical way.

What the fuck?! Jett released his prey as if burned, and April tried to lift himself again. Apparently, it was hard to do that with your pants down your ankles. Jett laughed and this time, grabbed the idiot by the scruff of his neck and made him fall to the ground.

“Don’t shoot, dude!” April put both hands up.

“Nobody’s shooting, fool,” Jett replied and turned the other roughly.

This time, he came face to face with the green eyes from earlier. They were wide in fear and fringed by long dark eyelashes, darker than the hair of the guy’s head. “Do I know you from somewhere?” he asked and looked closer.

The green eyes blinked. “I don’t know any gangsters,” was the prompt reply.

“No shit. Then how come you owe money to the Zabinski brothers?”

“I had no idea they were that kind of brothers,” April replied again.

Didn’t this wiseass have all the answers ready?

“I don’t give a shit. You need to pay up, dude.”

“I don’t have the money.”

“Nice try. Now, I’ll give you one second to think again if that’s the answer you want to give me.”

“Okay. Can I least pull my pants up?”

Jett let go of the moron instantly. His eyes went lower and then moved away. “Fucking idiot,” he said under his breath.

This kind of job was getting suckier and suckier. Where the fuck did it say in his job description that he had to deal with seeing naked asses and dicks?

Not that it had been that bad to stare at this hippy’s ass. April Summer had more than a girl’s name. He also had a round perky ass that shouldn’t be legal on a dude. Not that he had noticed.

Jett shook his head. This morning was getting weirder and weirder, and his head along with it. It didn’t matter what kind of ass that dweeb had. He had to pay.

He looked aside as April struggled with his pants and pulled at his jacket. 

“Oh, shit.”

That was April who was staring at him, his eyes even wider. Seriously, one could not look at this dude’s face and see anything else; that was how big his eyes were. And where the hell had Jett seen those before?

Absent-mindedly, he scratched his neck and noticed April’s eyes fixed on his hand. Ah, probably not his hand, but the tattoo on his neck.

“Dude, just pay up and we can part as friends,” Jett said.

“I don’t have the money,” April said again and moved his head to the sides like a broken doll.

“Then you’ll have to come with me, and meet your investors so that you can explain what the fuck you did with their money.”

“No way! They’ll do something to me! Like they’ll blow my kneecaps off or shit like that!”

This dude was doing such as great job scaring himself that Jett wondered what the hell he was still doing there. He was supposed to come up with scary scenarios, not his targets.

“Look, you must have something,” Jett offered. “I saw a bunch of stuff in your room. Just sell all that shit and pay the money back. I’ll tell the Z brothers you need just a couple of days.”

“It won’t work,” April said and shook his head dejectedly. “That stuff is already too old. If I’m selling it, I’m losing money, and I won’t have enough to pay back what I owe.”

“How can that stuff be too old? When did you buy it? Last month or so?”

“Yeah. But there is better stuff out there already,” April explained.

“What the fuck do you need all that stuff for, anyway? Do you want to launch a rocket or something?”

“It’s for my rig,” April said. “I’m mining crypto.”

“What?” Jett narrowed his eyes.

“Bitcoin,” April explained.

“Ah, you’re a complete fool,” Jett said, the explanation more for himself, then the other. “April the Fool. Yeah, it suits you.” He grinned.

“I’m no fool, man. This is the real stuff. The new El Dorado.” April the Fool really believed that crap.

Jett put one hand up. “I keep to what I said. Now tell me this. How are you going to pay?”

April looked away. “Aside from my rig, I don’t have much else.”

“Think, dude, or things can get ugly,” Jett warned.

“What should I sell? A kidney?”

“It’s an idea. But I don’t think you could sell one if you wanted to,” Jett said and shrugged.

“If you take me to the Z brothers, they’ll fuck me up,” April said.

“Yeah,” Jett confirmed.

“But it won’t be to their advantage. If they let me mine my crypto, I’ll have the money, and I’ll pay them more interest, too.”

“I wasn’t born yesterday, pal. Think of a solution so that I don’t have to drag you to the Z brothers. They’re not patient dudes. And neither am I,” Jett added, remembering who was waiting for him in the car. “Oh, shit.”

Okay, so there was no time for April to come up with ideas. He grabbed him by the front of his tracksuit jacket and shook him. “You have to pay up, dude.”

“Wow, wow, wow, why do you have to get physical?”

“Because talking ain’t working with you, that’s why.”

The same strange sensation that he had seen this dude before struck Jett. He sniffed April a little like he could get some vital information from that. 

“Dude, you’re weird. Stop smelling me,” April said. 

Jett pulled back but didn’t let go of April’s jacket. “Let me make it clear to you. I can beat you up now and come back later. I’ll tell the Z brothers you weren’t home. But in two days, you come up with the money, or I come and beat the shit out of you again. See, I’m generous. I’m not taking you directly to them.”

“Generous? I can’t stand violence!”

“A total hippy and a dweeb? Shmucks like you shouldn’t borrow money ever.”

“Hey, it’s a solid business. I will make money,” April insisted.

“That’s it,” Jett said, exasperated with enough conversation. “Where do you want it? Stomach or face?”

“How about neither?!”

Now he could smell fear. Good. Usually, the guys Jett dealt with suddenly remembered they had some money somewhere or had a relative or friend that could lend them the cash, so he didn’t have to use his fists.

But, in this case, it looked like he needed to put his money where his mouth was. He pulled his right arm back, flexing his hand into a fist.

“No, please!” April began babbling. “If you kill me, people will miss me!”

“I’m not going to kill you, idiot,” Jett said. 

“Others are depending on me! An entire family! Children will go hungry if I don’t --”

“Does a dweeb like you have kids?” Jett stopped his fist in mid-air. “You can’t be older than twenty or something.”

“They’re not mine! I mean, they’re my sister’s! But I’m the one who has to take care of them! I mean, from time to time!”

Jett grabbed April by the front of his shirt again and looked him in the eyes. “Do you know anything about babies?”

“Babies? I mean, my nephews are toddlers, yeah, but --”

“Good enough,” Jett decided and began pulling April after him.

“Hey, where are you taking me? Hey, I’m too young to die! Please, have a kidney but don’t take me to them!”

“I’m not taking you to them, moron. I have a job for you. Do it well, and I’ll cover your ass.”

The last word barely left Jett’s mouth, and he cursed under his breath. He had gotten laid last night. What the hell he had to think of April’s round ass that moment? 

Ah, well, he needed to get laid again. No biggie. But right now, he needed to solve some shit, and April was as good a candidate as any to help with that. After all, the guy had the perfect motivation to obey.

***

April could barely breathe as he struggled to keep up with that dude. He had known for days that was coming, but he had hoped, like the total moron that he was that he would strike it big. Only that the fucking crypto he invested in had continued to drop like a rock. The last investments in equipment were supposed to cover for the diversification of his portfolio, but it looked like he wasn’t in any condition to use it now.

The gorilla dragging him away seemed to care naught for his struggles to explain his position. Well, the dude wasn’t exactly like a gorilla, but he was pretty buff, and he had just threatened April that he would beat the shit out of him.

And there was also the tattoo. It had been years ago, but April knew that tattoo well. Maybe it was just a frigging coincidence. Maybe there were at least a few thousand dudes who had decided to have a sextant tattooed on their necks, in the exact same position as he remembered. 

Now there were more ardent issues at hand. The gorilla let him lock the door behind him and continued to drag him by one arm to his car.

“Man, I’m not going with you anywhere,” April insisted.

His jaw fell when the man opened the door to the back and April saw a baby strapped to a car seat and with the extra seatbelt crossed over him. 

“See this kid? You’re going to take care of him.”

April blinked. And then he frowned. The baby started crying like on cue.

“Hear this?” The gorilla pointed at the baby. “I don’t need this shit.”

April opened and closed his mouth a few times, like a fish out of water. And then it struck him. “Do you want me to take care of your kid?”

The other shrugged. “That’s not my kid.”

“Did you kidnap him? Hell, dude, I’m not getting into shit like this. I don’t need to be chased by the FBI.”

“I didn’t kidnap him! Just get in the fucking car and make him stop.”

“Okay, okay.” April put his hands up in surrender. “What’s his name? Is a boy, right?”

“How the fuck should I know?” The other bristled and put one hand on the door handle to climb in front.

“Wait!” April yelled. “The car seat is all wrong.”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“This baby is too young to ride like this.” April congratulated himself on knowing at least that. He had never really taken care of his sister’s kids. They were in another state.

“Then where should I put him? In the trunk?”

“No,” April said and began to unstrap the baby. “There should be something here,” he mumbled to himself, as he searched on the back seat for the LATCH system. “Aha.”

Pretending he knew what he was doing, he manipulated the car seat carefully, which was pretty hard, seeing that the baby was still in it and didn’t stop wailing. There was sweat on his forehead, but April was overly conscious of having the gorilla watching over him. 

It took him a bit of time to find the connectors, but eventually, he managed. Feeling a bit triumphant, he turned toward the other. “There, see? Much better.”

Dark caramel eyes measured him up and down. “Are you sure we never met?”

“Yeah, sure,” April said and blinked a few times.

If he looked enough, there was some resemblance, in how the man’s eyebrows knitted together in thought, in the shape of his jawline, and … April shook his head. He imagined things. 

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“It’s Jett,” the guy threw at him and climbed behind the wheel. “Just make the boy stop crying already.”

“Ah, so you know it’s a boy, after all,” April said quickly.

Just his fucking luck, to meet Jett Huntsman after all these years. The past was the past, and it had to remain that way.

Once he managed to scramble to the backseat, he began to make faces and use his hands to distract the baby from his crying. Luckily, the kid wasn’t some tough crowd. Soon, his large eyes were following April’s elaborate, but pretty clumsy attempts of simulating animals, and the crying stopped. Now that the car seat was rear-facing, he could watch the kid easier, too.

April let his eyes wander to the rearview mirror, and Jett’s caramel eyes met him midway. He jerked his head away, which must have been pretty funny because the baby started giggling. 

“I think you’re hired,” Jett said.

“I am?” April asked, his voice weak.

“I’ll pay the Z brothers what you owe.”

“That’s like five grand,” April said.

“Do you want the job or not?”

“To take care of your kid? For how long?”

“Told you. He’s not my kid.”

“Ah, right. You don’t even know if it’s a boy.”

April noticed a small piece of paper next to the baby, wedged between the seat and him. He took it and read out loud. _“Assume responsibility, asshole.”_ He turned it and looked on the back. _“By the way, his name is Jay. Asshole!”_

“Would you cut it out? And where did you come up with that name?” Jett seemed absorbed by his driving, but April could catch a glimpse of the frown on his face in the mirror.

“It says here, on this paper,” April replied and handed it to him over the shoulder.

Jett shrugged. “I don’t need that. So Jay, ha?”

“Yeah, does it ring a bell? And what the hell happened? Did your girlfriend just leave the baby by your door and ran away?”

Jett almost missed a stop and cursed, stepping the brake and making April lean forward abruptly. Good thing the baby was well strapped in his chair, and this time correctly.

“How do you know that?” Jett asked.

“Just a lucky guess. And seriously, that happened? It’s like you live in a movie, dude. How can you not know you have a baby?”

“Shut up, fool.”

April felt a little goaded by Jett’s condescending tone. “You know, you could hire a normal babysitter for five grand.”

“The last thing I need is trouble with girls,” Jett said promptly.

“Why? The soonest a female crosses your threshold, you feel the sudden urge to impregnate her?”

April knew he should keep his mouth shut. But he still couldn’t believe that was Jett. He was nothing like April would have imagined him growing up to be. So, he had always been a punk. But to become a guy who got girls pregnant and didn’t know he had a kid? 

April wanted to slap himself silly. People grew up to be whatever they wanted to be.

“I want you to be the one to take care of little Jay over there,” Jett interrupted his train of thought. “Until I figure this stuff out.”

“Well, seeing how you can’t knock me up --”

“I’m not gay, dude,” Jett said abruptly. His voice was freezer cold.

April gulped. “I was just joking,” he said quickly. “But I can ask, can’t I? Why do you need me for when there are qualified people for this?”

Jett shrugged and appeared to stare straight ahead. “I know I saw you somewhere.”

April stood unmoved in his place, holding his breath. Was it any chance to survive if he opened the door and tried to jump? It was worth considering.

“And look, Jay likes you already. So get in shape and do what’s best for you.”

“Are you really going to pay the brothers for me?”

Jett flashed a grin at him in the rearview mirror. “Cross my heart.”

April looked away and pretended to play with the baby. He had heard those words before. Too bad it had been all lies.

TBC


	2. For Some Reason, I Like Blonds

Chapter Two – For Some Reason, I Like Blonds

Jett would wreck his brain later about where the heck he’d seen April Summer before today because, right now, there were more pressing matters to deal with. Like making a list with all the girlfriends he had about …

“Hey,” he called for April who was struggling with the baby’s car seat and trying to follow him inside the house. “How old is this kid?”

“Seriously?” April threw him a look that told Jett, in a nutshell, what the dweeb thought of him.

“Give me a ballpark,” Jett said and gestured with the hand holding his phone.

“That’s not exactly how this works,” April replied. “I don’t know. I’d say that he’s about one year old … -ish? Ah, look. It says on his onesie. Yeah, this was a gift for his first birthday.”

“Hmm,” Jett scratched his short beard in thought. He was just growing it and believed it made him look interesting. “So sometime, about two years ago, I fucked his mom and knocked her up.”

April stared at him in disbelief. “Don’t speak like that in front of the baby! He understands more than you think!”

“Really? I thought babies only knew how to drool and poop or something like that.”

The look in April’s big eyes was speaking volumes.

“All right, all right, sorry I said ‘fuck’. Do you want to set up a bowl and make me throw pennies in it each time I curse?”

April took a look around, the car seat and the baby still in his arms. “Man, your place is like a fucking pigsty. So do you agree that Jay is your kid?”

“There’s a possibility. I’m a philosopher by calling,” Jett said with a grin. “I don’t reject any possibilities right out.”

“Possibilities that involve getting your girlfriend pregnant? I’m pretty sure philosophers don’t have the kind of problems you have.”

Jett grinned again. “Just leave the kid somewhere.”

From his car seat, Jay was examining everything with curious eyes. He looked pretty mature for a one-year-old, Jett thought with pride. Well, maybe the kid wasn’t even his, and he was getting ahead of himself. He still needed to put his mind to work and remember who the hell he was banging on the regular two years ago.

“I can’t just leave him somewhere. He’s not luggage, you know?”

For a guy who was about to sell his kidney only half an hour ago, April had a mouth on him.

“Well, find a place. You and I need to talk finances.”

After some deliberation, April set the car seat gently on the floor, on a patch relatively free of haphazardly thrown objects, and took the baby out of it. Jay seemed pleased with being released from the confines of his car seat and grabbed April’s longish curls with enthusiasm.

“He’s such a good-natured kid,” April praised him and adjusted Jay’s position in his arms so that the baby could sit comfortably.

“He’s going to rip the hair off your head,” Jett warned.

“No, he’s not,” April said back, and pronounced the words while looking at Jay and imitating the cooing of babies.

Jett shrugged. “If you wanna go bald, don’t let me stop you. Are you bringing him to our small business meeting?”

“Yeah, I am,” April replied promptly. “There will be a bunch of stuff you should buy. Like a carrier, a crib, diapers, toys --”

“Hey, hey, maybe he won’t be here that long,” Jett said and put one hand up.

“What are you paying me for, then? And I need to set you guys up well so that I can go back to my place tonight. It might take a while to put things in order.”

“Do you like your kneecaps where they are in your general anatomy?” Jett stopped April. “And you’re not going back tonight. I need to go places. You stay here, with Jay.”

“Did I sign myself up for slavery?”

“Hey, dude, five grand is five grand. You want the money or not?”

Jett never forgot a face. It was stupid, given the circs, that he was willing to throw that kind of money out the window. But the dweeb was good with kids, by what he could see, and that was worth avoiding complications.

Nah, that wasn’t it. Or wasn’t the full story. He wanted to remember where he’d seen April. There was a particular weird sensation he had when looking at those green eyes, augmented by the glasses. While those seemed prescription glasses, they kinda looked good on the guy.

They were making him … how was that word one of his girlfriends used when seeing something she liked? Ah, adorable. Well, usually, Jett wouldn’t say or even think stuff like that about another dude, but April Summer was as unique and peculiar as his name was.

So, the usual rules couldn’t apply to him. Plus, what the hell was with that ass? If Jett hadn’t – almost – seen the guy’s pecker, he would have doubts whether the dweeb was a dude or a gal.

Whatever. He needed to stop thinking of April’s ass, no matter how round and perky. Seriously, that kind of ass made him want to slap it. Playfully, lovingly, but slap it, nonetheless. He could bet those big green eyes would stare at him like their owner was majorly pissed off, which he seemed to be most of the time.

April had followed him to the kitchen, which, surprisingly, was the cleaner part of his house. He had done so without a word, at least not one addressed to him, as April was taken to conversing with the baby, for some reason. All the kid did was to coo like a bird back to him.

“Write it all down. How much you need to pay back?”

April adjusted Jay in his arms and sat on a chair. Then, with his left, he began scribbling down fast on the paper Jett had handed to him. “Here,” he said quickly and pushed the paper back to him.

“4,876.40 dollars,” Jett recited out loud. “You calculated that on the spot, just like that?”

“Well, when there are kneecaps and kidneys involved, one cannot help but become proficient at math,” April said promptly like that was some kind of logical explanation.

“If you’re so smart, how come you borrow money from the wrong people?” Jett questioned.

“Call it a lapse of judgment,” April said. “Also, a complete lack of options.”

“Is that crypto shit really worse losing a limb over it?” Jett questioned.

April’s eyes lit up, and Jett knew he made a mistake. A cascade of words from which Jett could only catch a few, like ‘digital asset’, ‘ledger’, ‘blockchain’, came pouring out of the dweeb’s mouth.

“Just stop, or I’ll get the urge to kill myself,” Jett said and got to his feet.

He went into his bedroom for the money. There was a current stash he used for the usual stuff. Some could say he was crazy to leave that kind of cash lying around and up for grabs, but that wasn’t where Jett banked. Also, if anyone ever had a death sentence and stole from him, at least Jett knew his real money wasn’t in danger.

Pocketing five grand, he walked back to the kitchen, where he found April explaining to Jay the name of various objects around. Damn, that looked almost domestic, that if Jett ever thought about living with someone and also allow that someone to be another dude.

He shook his head. With the wad of cash, he smacked April over the head not too hard, but not too soft, either.

April jumped from the chair and gave him a murderous look. Well, the dweeb was kinda jumpy. For some reason, Jett found it pretty amusing. “I’m going to pay up what you own, dweeb.”

“All right,” April agreed. “Are you sure you’re not going to come back for my kidney one day?”

“Take care of Jay. Don’t fuck up, and we’re set.”

“Wait. You really need to grab some diapers and baby formula for Jay on your way back.”

“The fuck do I know about that stuff?” Jett bristled. “You buy it.”

“I can’t. As you can see, my hands are full,” April said and raised Jay a little. “Oh, fuck, I don’t think I like the look on his face.”

“What? What’s wrong?” Jett asked, alarmed.

They both waited, their ears pricked, and then a sound like a deflating balloon refusing to go quietly into the night interrupted the silence.

“Dude, what the fuck?” Jett began waving his arms in front of him frantically.

“Phew, it was just a fart,” April said, looking pretty much relieved.

“Just a fart?” Jett hurried to the window and opened it wide. “This is fucking chemical warfare!”

“Language! There are babies present!”

“Fuck that, dude! This kid is going to kill us all!”

“Let’s not exaggerate … Oh, God, that does smell awful!”

Jett turned to notice with satisfaction how April’s face was contorting like crumpled paper, and the dweeb was holding Jay a bit away from him. No wonder there, the little punk was giggling.

“Jett, I’m sorry, man, but you will have to go for a ride to grab diapers and food for Jay, first. Get some blankies, too. Also, some clothes --”

“Give me your damned phone,” Jett said and opened his palm.

April half-turned and made a gesture with his chin for his pocket. Jett sighed and took the phone. Then he entered his number and called his phone.

“Now, you can send me texts like a normal human being. What the fuck? Do you think I can remember all that by heart?”

“All right. But go and bring the supplies we need first.”

“Before paying your debt? Those are not patient people.”

April waved. “They can wait. Priorities, man,” he added and lifted Jay higher, making the baby giggle again.

“All right,” Jett said, feeling more and more exasperated.

He would find Jay’s mom and shove her kid right back into her arms. Then he would grab April Summer, stare into his big green eyes, and stare, and stare until he remembered where he knew him from.

***

April felt like cursing the moment Jett was out the door. Why the hell he had agreed to that? Was he really supposed to sleep under the same roof with Jett? How long would it take until he remembered? Then Jett would not only be royally pissed, but he would regret paying his debt and …

And who knew what else he would do? There were more than seven years since they last saw each other, and, while it had not been many days without April thinking of Jett, at least in passing, he definitely hoped Jett had long forgotten him.

Especially since Jett had turned into a frigging gorilla and was beating people up to shake them for money. Not that April hadn’t realized from the very first moment what a huge mistake he had made when borrowing money from the wrong people.

Well, he had thought that the investment would be put to good use and soon, he would have enough money to pay back for the rig, and even something left to buy an even bigger rig.

Now he had a bigger problem on his hands. On their way to Jett’s place, April had managed to google quickly on his phone about what babies needed and whatnot, which had definitely helped to make him look knowledgeable enough.

Good thing Jett looked like he knew jack shit about what babies needed. April took out his phone, and with dexterity, he managed to use just one hand to operate it, while he balanced Jay carefully on the other arm and hip.

He needed a crash course on raising babies, and he needed it fast. So he began to swallow pages and pages, without time to digest them properly. At least, those exercises in speed reading served a different purpose, too.

It helped him keep his mind distracted from the many dangerous scenarios it would have liked to create about Jett discovering who April was. Back then, April had used a different name because he was deeply ashamed by it and his parents’ propensity to embarrass him, apparently, from birth. Jett should not be able to put together that boy he knew seven years ago, with how April looked like today.

April knew he had had a bit of a hard time juxtaposing this twenty-year-old Jett with the memory from that long ago time. After all, at thirteen, Jett had had a different hairstyle and definitely no trace of a beard.

The caramel eyes were the same, even down to the minutest glint of mischief in them, just as April remembered them. He had changed a lot, too. At least now he no longer rummaged through his sister’s hair dye supply to make himself blond because he thought it made him look tougher for some reason.

And his glasses were a bit more stylish than the horrible grandpa eyewear he had been forced to use during that time. April wasn’t entirely sure that was enough to keep him safe from Jett recognizing him, but their friendship had been short-lived. Plus, he could bet he had made less of a lasting impression on Jett than Jett on him. Or, at least, that was what he hoped.

His life was complicated enough as it was.

“Much easier to leave it to others to worry, right, Jay?” April asked, rocking the baby gently on his knees.

He couldn’t let Jay without supervision so that he could investigate Jett’s house. What he had seen of it already worried him. Jett was a total slob. He probably ate only takeout. Lucky him, he could afford it. April survived on ramen, rice, and potatoes most days.

Was it worth checking the fridge? April held little hope, but dared, nonetheless. He sighed as he looked inside. Only beer. Great. He didn’t drink so a beer on an empty stomach before lunch and after no breakfast at all wasn’t a good idea.

He smacked his forehead. Busy as he was with ingesting information on babies, he forgot that Jay was supposedly old enough to eat more than just formula. He began typing on his phone fast, to tell Jett to get some baby foods, too. When Jett typed back ‘what kind?’, April looked for a second at Jay. “If only you could tell us what you want, buddy,” he said with affection.

He had spent some time with his sister’s twins, but he was by no means an expert. April hoped Jett would find the baby’s mother fast. What could have made her leave her baby with Jett all of a sudden? Apparently, Jett had no idea about who the mother could be, or he didn’t know at the moment.

Probably April would have to perform some hypnosis on Jett to extract that valuable information. By how things looked around, the guy was pretty loose, not only with what home cleaning meant but with his morals, too — having a kid without knowing about it?

Maybe if they had grown up together, Jett would have turned differently. April shook his head. That was some lack of modesty on his part. Like he could have an influence on Jett of any kind. Or on his own fate, as it had been.

His train of thought was interrupted by Jett entering the house. April watched as Jett unloaded on the table a bunch of stuff. There were diapers for a small army of babies, at least five types of baby food, bottles, and many other packages.

“Is this enough?”

April just nodded slowly. Okay, so maybe Jett didn’t quite believe Jay was his son, but his heart was in the right place. As he looked at Jett, in the way the guy frowned in thought, most probably wondering if he forgot something, April thought he caught a glimpse of that boy from a long time ago. The one who was fearless and generous, the one April had considered his only real friend at one point in their lives.

“It should be. Where should I set camp with Jay?”

Jett gestured around. “Choose a room.”

April cocked his head to one side. “I might pick your bedroom by accident.”

“Then take the one up the stairs to the right. It’s the closest to the bathroom.”

“Good. Then I’ll see to feeding and changing Jay.”

He definitely hoped he looked confident enough while saying those things. Again, it was a good thing Jett was completely oblivious to whatever caring for a baby entailed. April was afraid he would screw up, but it looked like, for the moment, he and Jay only had each other to depend on.

“I’m off to settling your debt to the Z brothers,” Jett said.

“Sure. I mean, thanks,” April said, realizing that he hadn’t said anything about how grateful he was for that.

It was like Jett, the one April knew, to help a stranger in need, no matter how he looked at things. He was lost in thought and didn’t notice when Jett came close and stared at him.

“Hey, personal space or something?” he said since he was with his back to the refrigerator and couldn’t take a step back. At least, the baby was between them, so Jett couldn’t suddenly decide to give him a piece of his mind.

“You’re so damned familiar, but I can’t place you.”

“Dude, I told you. I haven’t seen you in my life before this morning. I might have a common face.”

“Nah, that’s not it. Is your sister called Melinda?”

“No. Who’s Melinda?”

“One of my exes.”

“Man, you didn’t just say that you thought you fucked my sister.”

“No f-words in front of the kid,” Jett said with the smirk.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” April said quickly. “Don’t you have someplace to be?”

Jett was too close. April could smell the lingering scent of cigarette and leather from his jacket. Usually, he couldn’t stand tobacco smell, but, in this case, he just found it …

A package fell from the table.

Jett moved away. April cleared his throat and pretended to be engrossed in examining the many items Jett had brought.

“Be here when I come back, or you’ll have a bigger issue than the Z brothers. I’m much meaner than them.”

“And where could I go? This little fellow needs me.” April pointed at the baby in his arms who was already exhausted from all the ruckus.

“I just thought you needed a little bit of friendly warning.”

“There was nothing friendly in that warning, just for the record.”

Jett smirked and winked at him. April looked away and grabbed a pack of diapers. Luckily for him, Jett didn’t choose to tease him anymore and walked away to see about his business.

***

Jett couldn’t remember when it had been the last time he thought of a guy as ‘cute’. Well, it had been that time when he was thirteen and got his neck tattoo. Completely illegal, and dangerous, but he had had the money and the knowledge of where to go to get it. He touched the ink as his mind traveled back in time.

Theo, he recalled. That guy had been a total freak but in a good way. The funniest friend Jett had ever had that summer. That, until Jett had blown it, and Theo had left without leaving a trace behind when his parents came to take him home, wherever that home was. April reminded of him a little. But just a little. Theo’s eyes were green, too, and large behind what must have been the most horrible glasses Jett had ever seen.

That must have been why he found April so familiar. That was all. Many dudes had green eyes like that.

Yeah, but Jett didn’t usually think of them as ‘cute’. April Summer was cute, and Jett needed to stop thinking of that, like ten minutes ago. He needed to pay back the Z brothers, and conclude April’s business with them so that the dweeb could focus on taking care of the baby.

***

“Did he pay?” The oldest Zabinski brother, Henry, was petting his fat cat with an equally fat hand.

Both were white, so Jett had to squint to see where the hand stopped, and the cat began.

“Yeah. Here is all,” Jett placed the money on the table.

The other Zabinski brother, Peter, or the thin one, as Jett differentiated them in his head, counted it, and then pulled Jett’s commission from it.

That was how they worked. Jett never took his commission out of the money he brought. That had earned him some respect from the two shark loans. Without saying a word, he took the money and pocketed it swiftly.

“I swear I thought he wouldn’t be able to pull it through.”

“What would you have done to him if he hadn’t paid?” Jett asked in a casual tone.

His ears pricked, despite his nonchalance.

“Someone we know needs something hacked. Rumor has it Summer’s good at that. Maybe we’ll need you to grab him for us, anyway,” Peter said.

Jett snorted. “That hippy dude, a hacker?”

Now that was the kind of turn of events he didn’t like at all. So the Z brothers wanted just to trap April.

“Yeah. So they say. We don’t know about stuff like that,” Henry replied. “But if he gets the job done, we get a lot of cash.”

“It looked like he wanted to skip town. He might be away by now.”

Henry stopped caressing his cat. “Well, then you’ll have to find him and bring him to us in case we get contacted again by our client.”

“He paid you back in full, interest and all,” Jett insisted while being fully aware that he risked raising suspicions by talking too much.

“And? What’s for you?” Peter asked, and his curious eyes were taking him in, like for the first time.

“Nothing. I just don’t think the dude stuck around after I paid him a visit. He was shaking in his shoes.”

“We don’t care if he’s a coward. You’ll find him.”

“I have other engagements,” Jett said quickly.

“No problem, then. We’ll give the job to someone else,” Peter said.

Jett thought for a second. “You know what? I’ll keep an eye on his apartment, see if something moves. And, when you give me the call, I’ll go pick him up if he’s still there. When will your client call?”

“He didn’t say. Important guy. We don’t need Summer right now. If he’s out of town, track him. There will be enough in it for you.”

“And if your client doesn’t call?”

“He will. That’s not your problem.”

“Okay.”

Jett knew not to overstay his welcome. The Z brothers were not known for blowing kneecaps, as April imagined, but they were far from tame. In other words, April could get in trouble, and Jett could end up having to care for the baby on his own, which was definitely not an option.

So, in the meantime, he needed to keep April away from his own crib. Jett just hoped the dweeb wouldn’t be so stupid as to go back there, without telling him.

On the other hand, Jett thought, if he told April the Z brothers didn’t want his kidneys, but his brain, maybe he would freak out and run away. Jett didn’t need that. So April wouldn’t hear from him about what kind of job the Z brothers had him lined up for.

He would have to make a stop on his way home. April would need a bit of a disguise, and Jett just needed to think up some lie.

***

Jett stared at the big patch of orange color on the kitchen wall and tapped one finger against his lips. It was true that his place was an absolute mess, but that stain was new.

He shrugged and went upstairs. April jumped – no wonder there – when he entered the room without knocking. He looked like he had been through a fight for his life, a fight with a giant carrot, or something like that. Also, he looked like he lost the said battle. April even had small bits of food in his hair, and murder written all over his cute face.

“What’s going on?” Jett asked cheerfully.

“Your kid is a fiend, and I’m not surprised. He tortured me, and now he sleeps like an angel. Look at him.” April was whispering, clearly in no mood to wake up the sleeping baby.

It looked like Jay enjoyed his seat that doubled as a bed, and he was completely undisturbed about the adults fussing around him.

Jett laughed wholeheartedly. “That’s my boy.”

“You’re certain now he’s yours,” April said and crossed his arms over his chest. “And be a little quieter. It was a pain to get him to sleep.”

“He’s a likely candidate,” Jett said with a shrug. “Now here’s something I got for you.”

“Is it food? I’m starving.”

April caught deftly the package Jett threw at him. His face seemed to drain of color. “What the fuck is this?”

“Don’t say ‘fuck’,” Jett warned and grinned.

“It’s hair dye! Why?”

Jett shrugged. “For some reason, I like blonds.”

TBC


	3. No Big Deal

Chapter Three – No Big Deal

“Blonds? Like in blond guys? You told me you’re not gay!” April exclaimed and then pressed one hand over his mouth, stealing a nervous look in the baby’s direction.

Jett smirked. “I think it would be a good color for you.”

April began munching on one fingernail while he looked again at the hair dye in his hand. “Blond? Why this particular hue, though?”

The color on the package was enough to give April the chills. He couldn’t swear, hand on heart, that it was the same hue he had used at thirteen, stolen from his sister’s stash, but it was really close. It was a bright blonde that April was pretty sure it would catch on his brown hair like a fucking charm. 

He studied Jett while trying hard not to stare. Could it be that Jett remembered him and now was just trying to trap him? But why the charade? He could say it. 

Remembering how their friendship had ended wasn’t helping right now. 

“I just picked it at random.”

Jett’s answer took a while to catch up with him. April stared at the package again, and then he threw it back to Jett. “No. I agree about taking care of Jay, which, by the way, it must be listed on the same level of danger as the Deadliest Catch or something, but I won’t play to whatever weird-ass fantasies you have. What? Do you want me to act like Jay’s mom, now? Is she a blonde?”

“I don’t know who she is,” Jett replied and shrugged. “Jay looks like he has blond hair, right? Ah, then he’s not my kid. I don’t fuck blondes.”

April stared at Jett and huffed. “Seriously? Just earlier, you say you like blonds. Did you mean it like blond dudes? For real?”

Jett cracked his neck. He did that a lot.

“Aren’t you too young to have troubles with your joints like that?”

“Don’t change the subject. Dye your hair, or I’ll take you to the bathroom, shove your hair under the shower and give you a total makeover myself.”

“Don’t tell me you want me to put on makeup, too! I swear I won’t look anything like a woman! Certainly not like Jay’s mom!”

“That’s not why I want you to die your hair, fool!”

“Jay’s mom might not be blonde at all,” April rambled on. “Kids have light hair when they’re little. It changes with age. Even yours was lighter when – I mean your hair surely changed, too!”

Which was true, since Jett’s hair had been a very light brown as April remembered, and now had a darker color. But he was not supposed to give himself away, and yet, there he was, making a total fool of himself. 

“That’s it,” Jett said and grabbed April by one arm. “I’ll do it for you.”

“Hey, I need to supervise Jay. What if he wakes up?”

“He looks like he sleeps. It won’t take long. Also, I’ll need the key to your apartment.”

“Um, why?”

“Hey, you’re the dude in debt. I need to limit the damage. All your things will do.”

“Ah, so I’m taking care of Jay for free!”

“Stop talking so loudly! You’ll wake up the baby.”

They both stopped at the same time, holding their breath, and looked at the sleeping kid. Jay seemed completely unaware of the little domestic conflict taking place in the room.

“You’ll get a haircut, too,” Jett said with finality.

“Oh, great. Wouldn’t it be easier if you just shaved my head if you don’t like my hair color?”

Jett seemed to ponder for a second. “Nah, I don’t want you bald.”

“You seem very peculiar in your tastes,” April replied. “Why not?”

“I think you’d be less cute if I did that.”

 _Say what?_ April opened his mouth and remained with it like that for a couple of seconds. Jett pushed his index finger into his mouth, making him choke and take a step back while batting away the other’s hand. “Why the hell did you do that for?”

“Because it’s funny, that’s why. You made such a face.” Jett laughed and made a pour impersonation of what April might have looked like.

April wanted to protest some more, but Jett dragged him to the bathroom. 

***

Jett took the scissors with confidence. He had no idea about cutting anyone’s hair, but it couldn’t be too complicated. It looked like April had resigned with the idea that he would get a makeover, whether he liked it or not. 

He moved around, grabbing chestnut curls and snapping them fast. April was staring at himself in the mirror, his bottom lip jutting out. Jett stared, too. That lip looked damned juicy. 

“Are you going to take all day? If this is some torture, you’re a complete weirdo,” April said.

Jett snapped out of it. What was with him today? From that time, when he had had fun all summer with Theo and forgotten about all the other things, he had kept away from feeling the slightest thing about dudes. Not that at thirteen, he had known jack shit about what he felt. He had just decided not to investigate further. He liked girls — end of story.

“Have you thought about wearing contacts?”

“Contacts? That’s a bit too much hassle, you know? They’re expensive --”

“I can pay for them.”

“That’s not the issue. I need to have them custom made, obviously.”

“Do you have like a second pair of glasses?”

April seemed to hesitate for a second. “No.”

Jett knew he would search the dweeb’s home for the second pair. “Now, the dye.”

April took the package from his hand. “I’ll do it. Just go watch Jay.”

“Why?”

“He might wake up. Imagine how he would feel, waking up alone in a strange house.”

“Hey, I left you two the cleanest room in the house.”

“Thanks. I was a bit surprised.” April pulled some food remains from his hair, using the brush he had found on the sink.

Jett stole another glance at him. April’s hair was a little spiky now, a consequence of chopped up curls, but even so, his face was still nice. He just looked a little punkish — a punk with glasses, good with kids, and with a passion for cryptocurrency. 

Jett shook his head. “Be blond when I get back, or we’ll have a problem.”

“Yeah, yeah.” April waved for him to go away. “Get some food while I do this ‘cause I’m starving.”

Jett checked his watch. It was already two in the afternoon. Time did fly. “Sure thing. What do you want?”

“Cheeseburger. With pickles. Lots. I mean, if you don’t mind,” April said quickly.

“All right. You like your pickles, huh?”

“I like sour stuff, as a general rule.”

Jett pondered.

“Why are you narrowing your eyes like that?” April questioned, staring at him in the mirror. “You look like you’re about to do something bad.”

“Are you always so distrustful of people?”

“Only of gangsters who take me from my home and order me to dye my hair blond.”

Jett snorted. “Execute the order. Fool,” he added with some satisfaction.

April always bristled at that word. It was like an invisible hand was pinching him, and he got annoyed like a porcupine. 

Whistling, Jett left the bathroom. Just as he was about to go downstairs, he remembered to check on Jay. From the door, he looked at the small seat that doubled as a baby crib on the bed. There was a reason why that room was clean. But April didn’t have to know about that. After all, Jett knew his dad wouldn’t be home for months. Even then, he would only be in passing, and the chances were he would spend little time at home. And, by then, both Jay and April would be long gone.

The baby was sleeping soundly. With a shrug, Jett left. So April liked pickles. A lot. Just like Theo. It had been an impulse to buy that hair dye, in that color. He was curious how much like Theo April would look. Well, he wouldn’t be Theo, but a version of that boy Jett had known at thirteen, and he would be okay with that.

Sometimes, Jett felt something when he thought of Theo. There was no point in sentimentalism, but it did feel like longing. Like when he heard a good joke, and wanted to tell it to someone, and he turned to his left, waiting, on some unconscious level, to meet those incredibly large green eyes behind the square, black-rimmed glasses.

He grimaced and took out his phone to order food. In the meantime, he took a look around. Maybe the house did look pretty bad. Jett grinned when an idea struck him. April the Fool just got himself another job.

***

April looked in horror at himself in the mirror. Fuck. If Jett thought he knew him from somewhere, now he would have the proof. Now, he was no longer sure whether he looked nothing like his thirteen-year-old self or not. If Jett found the glasses, he was fucked. Well, they were too small for him now, so he would say he wouldn’t wear them.

With slow moves, he put his glasses on and looked again at himself. He did look a certain way with his hair like that. And the spiky hair made him look a bit less like himself. Well, he would just deny that he knew Jett. What would the guy do? Jett knew a boy named Theo, not April. That was his saving grace.

He found the blow drier and proceeded to style his hair to be as tame as possible. As much as he tried, he still looked like he had just survived electrocution.

On his way down, he checked on Jay again. He would have Jett buy one of those fancy baby monitors so that he could move around the house and make it less of a pigsty without watching over Jay all the time.

Jett’s eyes were unreadable when he entered the kitchen. April pretended to be nonchalant as he sat down and grabbed the cheeseburger peeking from the paper bag on the table. He was about to take a bite when Jett moved so fast that it made him yelp. He was hovering way too close.

“Have you ever been to Lynn? It’s a small town, not so far from here.”

April managed to keep the cheeseburger from meeting the floor by executing a strange gymnastic maneuver. “Doesn’t ring a bell. I’m not from around here. I'm here for college. Fuck! What am I going to do about school?”

His predicament didn’t mean anything to Jett who was getting closer and closer, making him lean back into his chair. “Dude, you’re too close. And frankly, I don’t know how your girlfriends can stand you or kiss you. It would be like kissing an ashtray.”

Jett grinned. April was sure he didn’t like that. Slowly, he put the cheeseburger on the table, although he had to stretch so that he didn’t touch Jett by accident.

“Kissing an ashtray? Nah, I’m a great kisser. They all love it.”

April swallowed hard. Why was Jett so close, anyway? “Well, they might have bad taste, then. I wouldn’t kiss --”

Firm lips pressed against his so fast that he leaned back too hard. The chair balanced dangerously, but a steady hand caught it and made it regain its initial position, and April was brought closer, into the kiss. For a moment, his eyelids fluttered. At thirteen, Jett’s lips hadn’t felt like this. But then, April had been the one to kiss him. Their lips had been cold, but April had sensed warmth between them, or maybe he had just imagined it.

Now, Jett’s lips weren’t cold. But they were daring, not like that time, and there was more to that. April made a small sound when the brush of lips turned into something else. Teeth caught his bottom lip and bit it softly, making him open his mouth without thinking.

Jett moved just enough to sink one of his hands into the hair at the back of April’s head, intending to take the kiss deeper.

 _This is wrong, this is so wrong,_ was all April could think, but it was like he was paralyzed and his lips, no, his entire body, didn’t want to push Jett back.

A baby’s cry from upstairs made them both freeze. April was fast to push back his chair and escape Jett. Without a word, he fled the kitchen and ran up the stairs like he was possessed. Why the hell did he give in like that? Most likely, Jett was fooling around.

“What’s wrong, baby?” 

He was fast to check Jay. The boy’s cry diminished upon seeing him, and April smiled. Well, he now understood his sister better. Knowing that someone this small and vulnerable depended on him should have scared him good. But, instead, he felt useful, and something more than that.

He busied himself with distracting Jay with one of the squeaky toys Jett had brought. Hopefully, Jett wouldn’t come after him.

April needed time to think. Why the hell had Jett kissed him like that? Was it only a dare for him?

***

Jett stood in the middle of the kitchen, his hands by his sides. What the hell had driven him to kiss April? He could blame it on the resemblance between April and Theo, or on how much he had wanted a repeat of that kiss from long ago, or solely on his impulse to taste April’s juicy bottom lip.

But that would mean he was at least a bit gay, and that wasn’t it. Jett shook his head. Eh, he would tease April over it if he said something. Yeah, he would play it cool. It was no big deal.

Now, he just needed to push the kiss away from his mind. After all, he had plenty of stuff he needed to do tonight, and one of them was to get laid. So, kissing a dude, even a cute one, meant absolutely nothing.

In the meantime, there were some hours to kill, and Jett had no idea how to fill them. There were no other jobs he needed to take care of, and somehow, he needed to stay away from April. It probably was just his imagination and how, so many times, he had hoped he would see Theo again.

Back then, Theo had disappeared without a trace. Jett hadn’t known the guy’s last name, and the vague address of an uncle Theo volunteered had led him to a morose man who told him no Theo lived there and also to take a hike. At that age, Jett had already started to make quite an impression on people. 

The thing was Theo had lied to him about where he lived. Maybe he had lied about the parents who were supposed to take him back home at the end of the summer. He had just disappeared, without allowing Jett the slightest chance to make things right.

Not that Jett had had any idea about what to tell Theo. He had only known that Theo had kissed him and that he had pushed him away. Later, he had pretended not to know him, too. Theo must have been hurt. But, on a barely conscious level, Jett had known that the kiss felt right, even if it was from a boy. Yet, at the same time, he had felt like it was wrong.

Now, Jett knew a lot more, like what ‘confused’ meant. Not that he was confused. No, no, no, not in the slightest. So how the hell he could find this April dude so kissable? It had been so damned easy, too. 

A brush of the lips and he wanted to taste. A small taste of that full bottom lip and he wanted in. Hell, if April were game, Jett would do more, like even –

 _Easy there_. No way he thought that about a dude. Clearly, his mind was fucked up. Well, he would un-fuck it by getting laid and fast. 

***

April made another attempt at the cheeseburger left on the table about one hour later and sighed in relief when he saw the kitchen empty. Maybe the divinity was on his side, and Jett was already away, somewhere breaking bones, or whatever he did throughout a workday.

Fuck, he had missed classes, April remembered. He needed to talk to Jett and negotiate something. Maybe Jett could take care of Jay while he was attending classes. Yeah, like that was feasible, he snorted. 

“Are you talking to yourself?”

“Jesus!” April jumped, and the cheeseburger fell on the floor. “Fuck!”

Jett began counting on his fingers. “Taking the name of the Lord in vain. Saying the f-word. Playing with food.” 

“Do I look like I’m playing with food? God, I can’t believe it! I’m so starving, and each time I try to eat --”

April swallowed his words. The other time when he tried to eat, Jett had kissed him. There was no point in reminding anyone of that. It had been nothing but a stupid accident. Maybe Jett had tried to stare at him, and maybe he had slipped and –

“Have this,” Jett said and went to one of the cupboards from which he extracted a bag of chips.

The moron was fucking grinning while holding that. April rolled his eyes and moaned. “Are you some champion for all the bad foods in the universe? You only eat takeout; you have only a bag of chips and beer --”

“Hmm,” Jett stared at the bag of chips with thoughtful eyes, “I was saving it to have it with beer, actually.”

“I may be a slave, but I still have rights. I will go and buy something to eat. And I also need to --”

“You’re not allowed to leave the house,” Jett said, and his caramel eyes were impenetrable now. 

April stared at him, feeling puzzled. “Say what? Are you crazy?”

“No. You need other glasses. Otherwise, I’m not letting you leave.”

“You can’t really force me --”

“Jay needs you.”

“Hello! You’re the father! Shouldn’t he be your responsibility?”

“I paid your big ass debt. Now he’s your responsibility.”

Jett seemed very pleased with his line of reasoning. April didn’t like it one bit. He could walk out the door. Somehow, he didn’t fear Jett and knew the guy wouldn’t break his bones, whatever his mouth was yapping about. Still, he didn’t dare to leave Jay with Jett. He suspected that the so-called father wasn’t that much advanced from that baby, from a mental point of view. A look around that messy house was enough to confirm that.

“Fine! But I need to go to school. And I need my clothes. And I do have a life, you know?”

“You signed that over to me the moment you thought you would get rich with that crypto shit and failed to pay your debts.”

“All right. I’m willing to negotiate. I need to go to my place and grab some personal stuff, clothes, my laptop, stuff like that.”

“I’ll bring you everything. The keys,” Jett said and opened his palm.

“I’m not handing you over my keys. There’s stuff in there that’s valuable. Are you planning to sell everything? Just so you know, those things are valuable to me, but you won’t get much for them.”

“I’m not selling anything. I’ll bring everything here. Even your stupid mining rig.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. Here’s my part of the negotiation. Stay here and take care of Jay, and I’ll let you mine your crypto.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about. Your power bill will go up, and then you’ll strangle me.”

“Why? How much up can it go?”

April hesitated. But there was no point in lying. “A couple thousands or more for one unit or something,” he muttered quickly.

“Shit.” Jett looked at him and shook his head. “How much is that one unit you’re talking about?”

“Ten grand. But it can go up.”

“Um, and you’re selling it where?”

“I can find buyers.”

“Your business model is complete shit.”

“Hey, it’s a profit.”

“It could be, but you’re already in debt. You went at it the wrong way.”

“I needed a decent rig.”

“You need a bit more brain.”

“Hey! How about you stop insulting people, Mr. I-Break-Bones-For-A-Living?”

“I don’t break bones,” Jett protested. “I merely inform debtors, firmly and assertively, that they should pay up.”

“Pay up or what?”

“I let them imagine any scenario they want. It looks effective.” Jett threw him a meaningful look. “I’m generous like that.”

Well, the look was meaningful, but April had no idea what it meant. “Whatever. I’m not going to fight you. So leave all the equipment there. I don’t see why you would want to haul it over here. Unless you want to sell it, after all, or maybe start your own mining business.”

“Sure, ‘cause I’m a fool like you.”

April frowned. “Stop using that word. Don’t you think I heard the jokes already? April’s Fool, ha, ha, so funny.”

“Well, your mom and dad must have suspected something about you the moment they saw you.”

“Seriously? And what do you think they saw?”

April crossed his arms over his chest. The look in Jett’s eyes was odd. He was checking him out, and April felt his cheeks getting red under that intense stare. What was with Jett, anyway? It didn’t seem like he wanted to insist on the kiss from earlier, and maybe he would put behind that April reminded him of Theo in the slightest. So what was that look for?

“Do you want the chips or not?” Jett held the bag.

“Yeah, I do.”

Jett threw him the bag and April caught it. 

“I need to go and bring you some clothes and other stuff,” Jett said. “While Jay sleeps, how about you clean a little around here?”

“Am I your maid now, too?”

Jett shrugged. “You complained.”

April wanted to do that anyway, but it irked him that Jett thought of him as a pushover. “I’ll need a baby monitor, then. Without it, I won’t budge.”

“What’s a baby monitor?” Jett asked.

“Go to the store and ask for one. Take a wireless model. And make sure that it has a good range. I need to know when Jay wakes up while I’m around cleaning this fucking pigsty.”

“Deal,” Jett said with a smirk. “You suck at negotiating. You should have asked something for yourself.”

April rolled his eyes. “Go already. And grab some groceries. I’m no master cook, but I bet I can do better than the junk food you’re eating every day. Plus, that fridge is not there for beer, okay? It is the type of household appliance meant for keeping food inside. You know, that thing that offers you sustenance, not takeout crap.”

Jett’s smirk grew wider. “Sure. Send me a text with what ingredients you want. And, April the Fool, you do know what you’re practically just getting yourself more work, right?”

“Right,” April confirmed, not terribly convinced.

“Good. I was a little afraid you thought you were doing me a favor.”

Jett laughed on his way out.

“Bastard,” April murmured while looking after him. “I am doing you a favor.”

***

“What the hell?” 

Jett stacked the equipment in the hallway. “I thought about it. A few grand profit for each unit of crypto you’re selling? I get half.”

“Half? Wait, then you’re paying half the bill, too.”

“Nah, that will come from your pocket. Hey, you live here, you eat here, all on my tab. Don’t think badly of me if I’m looking out for number one,” Jett said as he pointed at himself.

“Living here means that I’ll have to find a place on the floor to sleep, because you didn’t get a crib for Jay, yet. As for food, seriously, I only had that bag of chips since this morning.”

“I’ll bring in the grocery bag, too. And then you can get to work and make some food. Are you sure whatever you’re making is edible?”

“I survived on little since I came here. I can be very creative when it comes to food, and I’m actually quite good, not that I brag.”

Jett shrugged. “Where do you want all this stuff?”

April appeared to ponder. “Do you have like a basement or something?”

“Sure. As long as you don’t mind some creepy crawlers as company.”

Jett watched April as he appeared lost in thought. He probably strategized about how to set up his rig and get rid of spiders and shit, at the same time. This dweeb wasn’t Theo, but he sure as hell seemed to have the same ability to think of solutions and complain as little as possible. 

“Ah. I also found your other pair of glasses.”

April’s hand was hesitant as he reached for the glasses. 

“Put them on,” Jett insisted.

Maybe all dweebs liked the same kind of glasses. Jett could say that seeing those black-rimmed square glasses brought back memories.

“They’re from an old prescription.”

“Just do it.”

April was just as hesitant as earlier as he took out his round glasses and put on the others. Jett stared at him, and April appeared defeated, for some reason. Fuck, he really looked like Theo. What were the fucking chances?

“Do you have like a brother or a cousin about the same age as you and me?”

Jett watched April as his Adam’s up bobbed up and down. 

“No,” came the whispered reply.

“Are you sure? Some guy named Theo?”

“No. Name doesn’t ring a bell.”

Jett moved closer. It was a bit of a dangerous move. _What if you feel like kissing him again?_ But it was like a strange pull he felt like he wanted to look at April from up close.

A loud knock on the door interrupted him. April took the glasses off quickly. Jett mumbled something under his breath and went for the door.

“Jett, you fucking scumbag! Since when do you think I’m your booty call?”

Jett looked at the angry woman on his doorsteps. “Maya! Hey, don’t be mad, babe! I heard you were back and thought about a little bit of catching up.”

Maya was the kind to have a mouth on her, but also her booty was great. Maybe it wasn’t that great as a certain round ass … Jett shook his head fast. Why the hell was he thinking of April’s ass, which he had seen in passing and only because it had sprung right into his face by accident? 

“I’m really curious what you have to say for yourself,” Maya said and walked by him into the house. “Who were you with, two nights ago?”

“Why? Are we going steady and I don’t know?”

Maya pushed a few curly locks away from her forehead. As a general rule, Jett preferred brunettes. Because of Theo, he had stayed away from blondes. 

“Ah, so you do think I’m your booty call! Well, it’s going to cost ya,” she said and put her hands on her hips, rotating them in a way she knew well drew attention to her perfect behind, held barely in tight jeggings. 

“Shit, I’m not paying for that,” Jett said right away.

“Hey, I’m not a prostitute,” Maya protested. “But you’ll take me somewhere nice tonight and then we’ll talk how steady you want us to be.”

“Steady? I don’t think --”

“If you want booty, darling,” Maya teased, slapping her behind, “you’ll have to pay up, one way or another. Your freedom will do.”

“All right,” Jett said with a sigh. One woman or another, it was the same thing for him. And Maya was great in the sack and funny to be around. He didn’t plan to say ‘no’ if that was what she wanted. “Well, April, it looks like I need to go out tonight.”

Maya only then seemed to notice April. “Who are you, blondie? You’re cute,” she said, pushing her already inflated pushup bra forward and walking toward April.

“Just someone who needs a particular article of interest from your boyfriend,” April said promptly. “Jett, the baby monitor?”

“Baby monitor? What the hell?” Maya asked. “What do you need that for?”

Like on cue, a cry reverberated through the house.

“Is that a baby?” Maya asked and turned to look at him.

Jett winced. How the hell could he explain that and without losing the chance to score tonight?

“Yeah, it’s a baby,” April replied. “Jett knocked me up, and now we have to raise the kid. Make sure it doesn’t happen to you, too.”

Maya’s stunned silence was enough. Jett threw April a murderous look, but the fool chose to rush up the stairs, pretending to be concerned about the kid.

***

Why the hell had he said that? April knew he had to check himself for signs of insanity. Jett would so kill him for messing up his date.

TBC


	4. What Your Man Bun Says About You

Chapter Four - What Your Man Bun Says About You

April was busy playing with Jay, after changing him, and now they were both surrounded by toys. He was pretty sure Jett’s baby was super bright for his age, as he used his own personal language and appeared to be taken with one of the toys that came with a wide array of animal sounds.

After spending some time with Jay, April was afraid he might start talking gibberish, too. Still, Jay’s company was preferred to that of his father. Jett would so kill him for ruining his date.

April looked out the window. It had been quite a day. When he woke up that morning, he had had no idea how much his life would change. The fact that he now practically lived under the same roof as Jett was incredible. How could one go so quickly from a comfortable life, not ounce challenging to figure out, to this?

Maybe his obsession with crypto was unhealthy. But, hey, a lot of people liked to shop, smoke, drink, or watch cat videos on YouTube for eight hours on end. April’s passion was to let his heart do flip flops with the ups and downs of the crypto charts. To anyone asking, it was quite the adrenaline rush.

There seemed to be quiet downstairs, so April could only hope that Jett was already out. He didn’t quite believe he would escape unpunished, but it was still better to have a breather before Jett would strangle him, pun totally intended.

The issue was he was still hungry. He would have to order takeout anyway until he could cook a real meal. Now, the kitchen was off-limits for the simple fact that it was downstairs and that was where Jett could still lurk, waiting to jump him and break his bones after all.

***

Trying to convince Maya that the kid wasn’t his over what was a costly dinner had been exhausting. Now Jett was even more pissed. Mostly because he hadn’t managed to get laid, but he could not totally blame that on Maya and her curiosity about the baby. Jett had a feeling she hadn’t believe one iota about a long-distance relative leaving a baby in his care.

That was the official version of why he hadn’t gotten his fix between the sheets as he had hoped for. In all truth, after kissing April earlier, Jett was in no mood for a replacement. Eventually, Maya had ordered the most expensive stuff on the menu and laughed about how he ended up taking care of a kid - the official version, of course. No word of them hooking up had come up, and Jett had kept silent on the subject, too.

But now, he was back home, and he had someone to straighten up.

He yelled from the bottom of the stairs. “Hey, yo, April! Get down here now!”

Jett was sure April could hear him. It wasn’t long that rushed footsteps could be heard from above. April looked down at him, from the top of the stairs. “Can you be less of a human-size alarm clock going off at odd hours?”

“If that was your idea of making fun of me, you suck,” Jett said matter-of-factly. “You use too many words, and you’re annoying.”

“I’m not coming down,” April whispered, as he remained standing. “You want to kill me, right?”

“Yeah, but that’s not why I want you to come down. Have you set up that baby monitor thingy?”

“No. I didn’t have the time. I’m starving, too.”

“Didn’t you say you’d cook?”

It was weird to whisper angry words at each other over the stairs. Jett went to the kitchen, grabbed the baby monitor from the table, and began marching up the stairs.

“What are you doing?” April began walking backward, his eyes growing wide.

“I’ll put this fucking house in order,” Jett replied and began climbing the stairs, two by two.

April looked like he was about to break into a sprint, but Jett was faster. Just as April was about to disappear through the door to the bedroom he shared with Jay, Jett caught him by the waist and pressed him against the wall.

“You have no idea about personal space, have you?” April moaned as he struggled to break himself free, but without too much force.

To Jett, it was clear that April didn’t want to make noise because of the baby. Well, it worked for him. He kept April there, enjoying, most probably more than he would have liked to admit, the way the dweeb was rubbing his ass dressed in nothing but a thin pair of sweatpants against his crotch. All evening, he had been too busy with other things to think properly about sex, but now that firm butt was giving his cock a good workout he could feel even through his jeans. The pressure was damned nice.

“Dude, are you getting hard or something?” April whispered. “I can feel it.”

Jett pushed himself away. “Can’t help it, after getting a bad case of blue balls because of you.”

April turned and faced him. “What? The girl didn’t put out?”

“That’s not relevant,” Jett said.

“Not relevant to what?” April asked.

“To what I’m about to do to you.”

April’s eyes grew wide again. “Don’t beat me up, please! I just have a bad case of putting a foot in my mouth, that’s all. I didn’t mean anything by it!”

Jett snorted. “Really? I thought you cockblocked me for a reason.”

“No reason!” April put his hands up and gesticulated.

“Let’s set up that baby monitor because I don’t want you distracted,” Jett said.

“Wait, if your girlfriend --”

“She’s not my girlfriend.”

“But she said --”

“It doesn’t matter.”

Jett walked into the bedroom and began right away to fiddle with the station.

“Don’t you ever read the manual?” April asked as he followed.

Jett threw him a pointed look. “Do you?”

April pulled down the zipper on his tracksuit jacket. Jett stared blankly at the black t-shirt with some vividly colored letters on the front. “RTFM?”

“Read the fucking manual,” April explained with a roll of the eyes. “Give that to me,” he added and opened his palm.

Jett held the monitor away from the greedy hand. “Hey, it’s my kid. Let me have my fun.”

“You’ll take forever,” April complained. “And I’m hungry.”

“You’re always hungry.”

“Only when I’m not eating.”

“And who’s to blame for that? Not my fault you liked testing the law of gravity with your burger.”

“I didn’t! You made me drop it!”

“Hey, keep your voice down. Baby in the room.”

April obeyed right away, but his eyes were filled with daggers waiting to launch. “All right. Play with the baby monitor if you must, and tell me what you need me for.”

“You’ll help me figure out who Jay’s mom is.”

“I don’t have a clue about your girlfriends. What help can I be?”

“Well, you seem smart. When you’re not stupid and get in deep shit with loan sharks.”

“Hey, I didn’t know they were loan sharks. I thought only that they were well-intended and wishing to invest in a young enterprise.”

Jett chuckled and continued to play with the baby monitor. “There,” he said with satisfaction and placed the camera so that it could point at the bed and the sleeping baby. “And this is yours,” he said as he handed the receiver to April.

The dweeb took the object and hooked it to his pocket. Jett noticed with satisfaction how pissed April was. Probably he didn’t expect Jett to know how to set up the baby monitor. He had read the manual at a stop on his way back. No biggie.

***

April placed the French fries and the fried chicken on the table. “How come you have a cooktop stove, but you don’t use it?”

Jett shrugged. “The house came that way or something.”

April had a feeling Jett was omitting on purpose to give away some vital information. “Does anyone else live here? You know, someone who cooks and knows the fridge is not just for beer?”

Jett threw him a brief look. “Do you see anyone else? And is this ready? I’m starving.”

“Didn’t you just come back from a restaurant dinner?”

“This looks better. And, by the way, completely unhealthy.”

“I know,” April said. “But I’m hungry, and only dripping oil foods will do it for me now.”

“Then just dig in and shut up. If you put food in your mouth each time you opened it instead of running it like a fucking broken record, you wouldn’t be so skinny.”

He paid no attention to Jett as they ate in silence. The situation was getting weirder and weirder, and April had no idea what to make of it. He got busy with washing the dishes in the sink since he hadn’t noticed the presence of a dishwasher. “I’ll need more cleaning supplies. I saw some in the bathroom, but I need more. Maybe a vacuum cleaner, too.”

“Do I look like I’m made of money?” Jett asked.

April gave him a careful once-over. “Yeah.”

“Good answer.” Jett grinned at him. “Make a list, send it to my phone. Okay?”

April nodded. “I should give Jay a bath.”

“Later. Now that you finally ate, you’re going to help me out.”

They moved to the living room, and Jett dropped on the sofa, spreading his legs wide. April wasn’t sure if he was supposed to sit next to him. The right thing to do, at least for him, was to remain standing.

Jett fiddled with his phone, with a deep frown on his face. “Are you just going to stand there?” he asked, without looking up.

“Yeah. It’s safer,” April said without thinking.

The caramel eyes scrutinized him until April looked away. “Really? Safer? From what?”

“Um, you?”

“Chill, dude. I’m not going to beat you up. Just for the record, though. Do you like guys?”

April could feel the blood rushing to his cheeks. “None of your business.”

“So yes,” Jett concluded on his own.

“Hey, you’re the one who kissed me,” April protested.

Jett shrugged, his eyes back to the screen. “And?”

“And shouldn’t I be the one to ask you that?”

“Nope. My house, my rules. I’m asking the questions. And I don’t like guys since you’re wondering.”

“What an insufferable ass,” April said through his teeth.

“I heard that,” Jett said and looked up. This time he was smiling.

Why was he smiling? And particularly, why was he smiling like that? He probably did that to all his girlfriends. They probably felt weak to the knees just like April now. Or maybe they were stronger and impervious to the charms of this fucker. The girl from earlier hadn’t seemed that impressed with Jett, truth be told.

Only that April knew he was much impressed.

“Come here,” Jett said.

He patted his knee.

“Do you want me to sit on your lap?” April asked, not quite sure he understood the gesture.

“Yeah. If I don’t like dudes and you don’t like dudes, what’s the big deal? It will be easier for both of us to look through my phone and search for Jay’s mom. It’s like bros chilling.”

“You either had not one bro in your life, or you’re pulling my leg. And I never said I don’t like guys. Actually, you concluded --”

A stern look was all it took for him to shut up. April moved to sit on the sofa, by Jett’s side. But just as he was about to put his ass down, Jett grabbed him and pulled him into his lap. April grunted and tried to release himself, but Jet snuck both arms around him while balancing his phone with ease in one hand.

He was about to protest when he felt hot breath on one ear, and sharp teeth sinking into the lobe. “Ouch! Why are you trying to pull a Mike Tyson on me, dude?”

April didn’t dare to move, afraid of what might happen to his ear.

It took a few seconds for Jett to release him. “Behave,” Jett ordered shortly. “You’re like an untrained puppy, and my teeth were tingling.”

“Seriously? Is that your explanation?” April protested, but didn’t remove himself from Jett’s arms.

Actually, that felt nice. If he didn’t know any better, he would lean into that warm embrace. But that was Jett, the clearly straight guy in the room if booty calls and girlfriends dropping babies by his doorsteps were any indication, and that meant that it was all nothing but teasing.

Why Jett felt the need to tease him was a different matter. Maybe he was just easy to tease. Or maybe Jett was still pissed about not getting laid, and instead of kicking April’s butt, he compromised by biting his ear and forcing him to sit with his ass right on top of …

“Dude,” he whispered.

“Um?” Jett asked while he continued to browse through his phone.

“Can you tone it down a bit? I can feel it poking my ass, you know?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Jett said airily.

“Your friggin’ erection?”

“Erection? You must be imagining things,” Jett replied.

“Then what the fuck is that in your pants?”

“My gun,” Jett said, but April could feel the body under him shaking with laughter.

“You don’t have a gun,” April protested.

“You think I’m a gangster. What kind of gangster walks around without a piece?”

“I can tell the difference,” April pointed out. “Is your gun made of meat or something?”

Jett laughed out loud. He lifted April just a fraction of an inch, and then pulled him down hard. “I don’t know, but your ass sitting on it surely feels great.”

April shook his head. “You’re such an asshole.”

“Now stop annoying me and help me figure out this. How the hell do I see posts from the past on this?”

April took the phone from Jett’s hand. Damn, that was an impressive number of chicks in those pictures. “Have you really fucked all of them?”

“They aren’t all my girlfriends,” Jett said, somewhat defensive.

What was the deal with that? “We should go back two years or so.”

April held the phone. “We’re looking at pics with your exes, right?”

Jett nodded.

“Her?” April pointed at a picture featuring Jett holding a redhead lovingly into his arms.

Fucking player.

Jett chewed his bottom lip, lost in thought. “I just hooked up with her once.”

April made a face. “You really need sex ed in your life. One time is enough.”

“I used a condom. Next,” Jett said.

“All right,” April muttered and began shuffling through Jett’s photo albums. “What about her?” This time, it was a beautiful blonde leaning against Jett’s arm and smiling for the camera.

Jett grimaced. “I told you I don’t do blondes. She just wanted a photo with me.”

“And you just said ‘yes’?”

Jett’s shrug was the only answer.

April continued. A fierce-looking woman was holding Jett in a tight headlock and grinning. She had a certain appeal without being someone people would call beautiful. Her short dark hair was all spikes, and her wiry arms were wrapped around Jett, while her eyes weren’t turned toward the camera, like the other girls, but looking at Jett in what appeared to be unhidden affection.

April shifted in his place. Looking at that picture made him feel like he was intruding on a private moment between two people who had feelings for one another. Jett looked happy in that picture, too. “What about her?” he asked quietly.

Jett’s face changed, and his jaw set hard.

April insisted. “Could she be Jay’s mom?”

“Maybe,” Jett said and worked his jaw a little.

“All right. It looks like we’re making headway. Let’s make a list. Pen and paper?”

“I’ll just remember this one,” Jett said and pursed his lips.

April swallowed hard. From the corner of his eye, he could inspect Jett. There was an intense look in his eyes, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. There was some painful history there, he could tell.

Pretending he hadn’t noticed anything, he continued to browse through the pictures. At the end of it all, they had narrowed down to four names. April was still impressed and not in a good way. For a guy barely out of his teens, to have so many girlfriends, women he could get pregnant was an achievement Jett shouldn’t be proud of.

“You’re such a womanizer,” April said and shook his head. “Are you sure these are all?”

Jett nodded. “Yeah. And hey, we don’t know Jay’s exact age. So I just took a longer time into consideration. You know, to cover all the bases.”

“I’m pretty sure you covered all the bases and scored, too,” April said. “How do you manage to fool these women? Is it because of your man bun that they trust you? They take a look at you and say: this guy must be in touch with his feminine side and he’ll understand me!”

April was overly conscious that he was exaggerating, but the serious look on Jett’s face was unnerving. Was it because of the girl with the spiky hair? For some reason, the thought of it made him feel cold and pushed aside.

He yelped when Jett turned him and made him lay on his back in one smooth move. From above, Jett’s eyes burned. “All right! All right! You’re not in touch with your feminine side! I was just joking! Jeez, you’re really tough, aren’t you?”

“You remind me of someone,” Jett said.

“That’s no reason to trample me, though, right?”

“I’m not gay,” Jett added, seemingly oblivious to whatever April was saying.

“Sure thing you’re not. You single-handedly broke more female hearts than five boys bands together, plus Justin Bieber. You’re safe, you’re safe,” April said quickly and freed one hand to pat Jett on the cheek.

The gesture was supposed to be casual but turned into a caress. Jett leaned forward, and April closed his eyes fast. But, to his surprise, Jett moved away.

“I have phone calls to make,” Jett said. “You can go see about Jay’s bath. And I’ll see about a crib tomorrow. Okay?”

April scrambled to his feet. “Okay. Goodnight. I think.”

He didn’t stay to see if Jett wanted to say something else. April knew he would be safer upstairs. Jett was making him confused, and April hated that. He just wanted to be safe, away from uncertain feelings that amounted to nothing.

***

Jett cursed under his breath as he browsed through his contacts. If Jay’s mom was one of them ... He knew who he hoped Jay’s mom to be. Could it be...? Even after more than one year, there was still something there, like the trace of a sharp object piercing through.

Back then, he had been almost happy. He had nearly forgotten Theo and confusing feelings. Jett had been at his best back then, or so he thought. Until, of course, he had ruined it, because that was what he did best, after all.

And now he needed to remember, and he was in no mood for that. Having April around, with his cute bottom lip, and even cutter butt was a problem already. His head was messed up enough.

He began calling, leaving the bitter medicine at the end.

“What? You’re married?” Jett exclaimed as he heard his first ex scolding him at the other end. “Say, do you have any kids? Especially a boy named Jay? Sure, sure ... Don’t put your husband on the line ... Whatever. Man, no offense. I just wanted to ask your wife a question.”

First one, excluded. The second was no longer in the country and hadn’t been for a long time. She was quite chatty, and Jett managed with difficulty to end the conversation.

Two left. Jett listened to the phone ringing, without anyone picking at the other end. A breathless voice eventually answered. “Jett? Jett who?”

Okay, so he could remember this ex to have always been an airhead, but he felt stupid about having to repeat his name three times. At the same time, whatever it was that she did to be so out of breath didn’t stop. “A child? With you? I’ve been on the pill since I was eighteen,” the woman at the other end replied. “No honey, sorry, it’s just a jealous ex ...” Jett heard her talking to her bed partner.

He cut the convo. That left him with just one, the one he was afraid to call. But he needed to bite the bullet and do it.

With a long sigh, he initiated the call.

A harsh voice replied. “Yes? Who is this?”

“Carina?” Jett asked, a bit unsure. That wasn’t her voice, but people changed, so who knew.

A silence which he interpreted as tense followed. “Carina is not available.”

“Is she in the shower or something? I can call later.”

Loud laughter was the answer.

“Who’s this?” he asked.

“That’s what I should ask you,” the voice replied.

“I’m Jett. Jett Huntsman.”

“Ah. What do you want?”

“I want to talk to Carina.”

“That would be tricky.”

“Why?”

“Correctional facilities for women don’t take calls at this hour.”

“What? Carina’s in the can? Since when? What for?”

“None of your business. But it must be the bad influence you were for her. You’ve been out of her life for more than a year, right? What do you care?” The voice was venomous, heated.

“Do you happen to know if she had a baby?” Jett decided to cut to the chase.

“A baby? What? With you?” The hoarse laughter returned.

“Did she or not?” Jett’s voice turned to stone.

“No. Happy now? Just stay out of her life, asshole!”

This time, it wasn’t Jett who cut the conversation. He stared at the phone, wondering who the hell that was. What kind of trouble had Carina gotten in? So she wasn’t Jay’s mom, after all. He should have felt relieved, in a way. The last thing he wanted was for Carina’s life to get even more complicated because of him.

***

April remained hidden in the shadows, as he listened intently. Carina. That must have been the girl with the spiky hair. Jett’s voice changed when saying her name. That counted more than an entire photo album filled with beautiful women.

He snuck back into the bedroom. There was no point in fooling himself Jett could like him like that. It was for the best to let the past remain in the past.

TBC


	5. Don’t Kiss Other Boys

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's never to early to start studying :)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Heya guys, I really hope you're enjoying this story! This time, Jett realizes that he doesn't like competition, and April has some explanations to do :)
> 
> Happy reading!

Chapter Five – Don’t Kiss Other Boys

April had preferred to pretend to be still asleep when Jett opened the door, probably to check on them, quite early in the morning. He waited for a while, attuned to the noise of the house until he heard the front door opening and closing. Only then he got to his feet and took a look at Jay who was already awake and having fun with his own fingers, which appeared extremely fascinating, for some reason.

“You look like a smart kid, Jay. How about you and I go to school today, huh?”

April had no intention to skip classes. Jett probably was out most of the day, and Jay needed some fresh air anyway. He wouldn’t listen to that tyrant. Like hell, he and the baby would stay cooped up indoors until the powers that be would allow them to get out of the house, like all normal human beings. 

After he packed a knapsack with everything he needed for Jay and himself and going through what he hoped to be a morning routine for both of them, he was ready to go out the door.

A single look at the baby carrier gave him pause. Was there a trap Jett was setting for him? Yeah, sure, April had put it down on the list, and Jett had bought it, but he didn’t have half a brain, and he could figure out such a thing could only have one purpose, which was to go outside without a stroller.

Eventually, he shrugged. He would deal with Jett later, one way or another. Jett wouldn’t hurt him too badly. After all, Jay liked him, and April needed moral support. “You’re on my side, aren’t you, buddy?”

He put up his hand, and Jay did it, too. Smart kid. “Nice high five, buddy!”

Jay giggled in reply.

***

“Oh my god,” a girl exclaimed as soon as he put his foot on the college grounds. “What a beautiful baby!”

April stopped. It was Gabriela, one of the girls who were in his physics class. “Hi, Gaby,” he said. “Say, do you think that if I sneak inside with Jay, can I remain inconspicuous to Mr. Trenton?”

“He’s blind as a bat and half deaf,” Gabriela confirmed. “Wait, what the hell did you do to your hair?”

“Long story,” April said with a long sigh.

“And the baby? Jay, you say?”

“That’s an even longer story.”

“All right.” Gabriela nodded and seemed to decide not to prod him any further.

A couple more girls stopped by their side and began to talk animatedly with the baby. Within five minutes, Jay was the center of attention. Quite the lady killer, just like his daddy, April thought. He would have expected Jay to be bothered by the noise and ruckus around him, but he was a natural charmer and enjoyed the attention.

“Guys, I think we need to head over to class.”

The girls waved a collective bye and finally April managed to head over to the building where his classes took place.

“April, my man,” someone called from behind. It was his friend, Raj, who hurried to reach him, a heavy bag on his shoulder. “How’s the crypto mining going?”

“It’s a bit complicated right now,” April said, opting to remain vague.

“Are you thinking about diversifying your portfolio? I can’t endorse that,” Raj said.

“I have a bit too much on my plate right now to think properly of it,” April replied. “And I kind of have my hands full.”

“Yeah.” Raj stole a slightly confused look toward the baby. “What’s with the chick magnet? Weren’t you gay? And the new hairstyle?”

April sighed. “It’s a long story.” He had a feeling he would have to repeat that multiple times throughout the day.

“Okay,” Raj said with a small shrug.

That was one thing about his friends and partners into science April loved. They didn’t care about gossip and never pressed him to reveal something he wasn’t comfortable to talk about.

They began walking together toward their class. Loud laughter and hooting made April turn his head to see who was making so much noise in the morning. Instant regret hit him. 

“Just ignore them,” Raj said and began walking a bit faster. “It’s like with dogs. If you don’t pay them any mind, they forget about you.”

“I’m pretty sure starting to run might make dogs chase you and bite your ass,” April said but began walking faster, too.

“Hey, girlie,” someone shouted. “Got knocked up or something? Whose kid is that?”

The idiot’s pals began laughing.

“You would think college should be a bit better than high school,” April said.

“Just imagine what a bunch of losers with brain damage, beer on their shirts, ugly wives and kids, they will all be about one decade from now,” Raj said in the most philosophical manner possible.

“It’s a nice exercise in imagination. There is a chance they might sign up with some big team and become rich, though.”

“Hey, I’m trying to be positive here,” Raj replied. 

“Aren’t you going to talk to us?” A jock jumped in front of them, and April stopped.

“Dan, I’m not in the mood for your bad jokes,” he said and tried to move past the other.

“Hey, I just asked you something,” Dan said.

April knew that trying to make Dan move out of the way couldn’t be easy. The guy was big, but, if April thought a little, he wasn’t as big as Jett, and that alone put a smile of his face. 

“Something funny, girlie?” Dan came closer and hovered over him.

“No, nothing,” April said as he chose the path of least resistance.

Dan had been trying to pick a bone with him lately. April was well aware of the reason, but he didn’t want to go there, not even mentally. 

“So, whose kid is this?” Dan insisted. There was something strange in his blue eyes, as he searched April’s face for something only he knew.

For the first time in a while, April didn’t find Dan as attractive as he had always thought. He seemed washed out with his blond hair, cropped close to the head, and blue eyes, taken like from some commercial advertising the new football player of the year holding a beer. Or vice versa. The beer was missing, but that wasn’t the issue.

Jett was better looking, regardless of his smoking and bad habits of threatening people with debts.

“Do you want me to sign something, to tell over the local radio, or put on a billboard, just so the world knows it wasn’t you?” April asked directly.

It hadn’t even been his fault. Dan had kissed him while half-drunk and mumbling incoherent things like how he found April pretty. April hadn’t exactly pushed him away, and the bad thing was that someone had seen them. Now Dan was trying to save his reputation by picking on April everywhere they met. It was never more than the usual taunts, but April found it tiring. While he was not the out and proud type, he had never hidden his orientation, either. Now Dan was making him question whether it wouldn’t have been better to keep it under wraps.

Dan blushed, and he seemed to lose his bearings for a second. “I have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about, Summer.”

“Yeah, me either,” April said airily. “Are we done here? I’m going to be late for class.”

“Sure thing, girlie,” Dan said loud enough to be heard by the others, “but only if you say please.”

“Please,” April said in a deadpan voice.

Dan seemed stunned by his quick surrender. “Hey, are you pulling my leg?” 

He got closer, and April took a step back. “Hey, there’s a baby here. I did what you told me, so now you can go back to your friends and tell them how you put the queer kid in his place. Isn’t that enough?”

Raj had watched everything in silence, but now he intervened. “Frasier, April here might be too much of an old-fashioned gentleman to tell on you, but if you insist on being a douchebag, I’ll do it. Being good at football won’t save you. I can guarantee that.”

Dan seemed to consider, but then he walked away, not before pointing two fingers at his eyes and then to their general direction.

April turned toward Raj. “Thanks, man. It was cool, awesome even, but crazy, too.”

“I’m not afraid of these idiots. They act all high and mighty because their dicks are small.”

April burst into laughter, and Jay giggled with him. “Oops, I forgot to tell you. We shouldn’t use cuss words in front of the baby.”

“Hey, I think he liked my joke,” Raj pointed out. “Can you tell me what’s going on between you and Frasier? It’s like all of a sudden, he wants a piece of you.”

“Raj, you’re my friend. If I told you, I’d put you in mortal danger, and I can’t have that. I don’t have many dude friends around here.”

“Ah, so the rumor is true.”

April threw his friend a crossed look.

“Everyone knows it,” Raj said. “That you and Dan made out under a certain tree, at a certain party.”

“It was only half a kiss, and also instant regret,” April said.

“Half a kiss? How is that?”

“Never mind. Let’s get to class already and hope that Jay won’t need a diaper change anytime soon.”

***

Jett had a feeling. He couldn’t say what it was, but it was in his gut. The moment he entered the house, he felt that it was too quiet, but the feeling had started before. 

“April!” he called out loud.

Maybe the dweeb was busy setting up his rig in the basement. Jett opened the door and looked down. It appeared that all the boxes were exactly how he had left them. Okay, there was no need to panic. April could listen to music on his headphones or something.

Nonetheless, Jett began walking fast, opening all the doors, and then going upstairs. There was no sign of April. What made the situation double worse was that there was no sign of Jay, either.

Could it be that April had gone outside? But where? Jett pulled his phone and called. No one was picking up, and a thin film of sweat was starting to form on his forehead. 

All right, he needed to think. The Z brothers weren’t particularly clever, so there was still a chance the dweeb had just taken Jay out for a walk. But why the hell wasn’t he picking up?

_Because he might have a ball gag in his mouth, while gangsters are forcing him to hack into the government’s network or whatever._

Jett pushed that stupid thought away. He tried the phone a couple more times. All right, so he needed to know where the hell April was. Last night, he had pretended not to be tech-savvy just for the sake of having April close while browsing through his exes. Why he had done that was unclear even to him, but that wasn’t something he had time right now to think about.

He hoped April had the GPS on and congratulated himself for thinking about that in advance by fiddling a little with April’s phone while the guy was bathing Jay. Jett stared at the screen and cursed.

The idiot had gone to school! Had he taken Jay with him? Most probably! Jett grabbed his jacket and was out the door in seconds. April Summer was in for some rude awakening about who owned his ass. 

***

April felt good now that he had attended a couple of classes, and was ready to go back home before the ogre might return. Maybe Jett ate lunch at home, although April couldn’t see why since, usually, there was no food in that house. Also, he didn’t need to make Jay too tired. He was, after all, just a little baby, although very nice behaved. When he wanted, he could be an angel.

He was about to call an Uber when someone’s shadow fell over him. April pursed his lips in annoyance. “Dan, seriously, dude, just drop it. Tell me what the hell you want and let’s end it.”

The look in Dan’s eyes was intense. “Come with me.”

“No. Whatever it is that you want, you can tell me right here.” April didn’t feel particularly trustful of being alone with Dan. Who knew what that guy was thinking?

“I said, come with me,” Dan said through his teeth, and this time, he grabbed April by one arm.

Jay started crying right away as if he could sense April’s distress.

“You’re making a scene, and I have no idea how you think that would work for you. And see? You made the baby cry.”

Dan seemed disconcerted by Jay’s louder and louder cries but didn’t remove his hand from April’s arm. April tried to shush the baby, but Jay didn’t care about that.

“The fuck you think you’re doing, dude?”

April felt his hair standing on end at the sound of that voice. Jett was by their side in one second and pushed Dan hard.

For a moment, Dan considered holding his ground, but it looked like Jett’s surprise attack, and maybe the wild stare in his eyes were enough to make the jock reconsider. Yeah, April thought with mild satisfaction. Jett was bigger.

“What? Is he your wife or something?” Dan sneered, probably conscious of the stares of bystanders. 

“Yeah,” Jett replied and took another step toward Dan, pushing him back just with his presence. “Got a problem with that? That’s my kid crying over there because of your ugly mutt face.”

“What a bunch of queers,” Dan said through his teeth and walked away, obviously trying hard not to break into a sprint.

April would have laughed if the fact that Jett was there hadn’t already caught up with him. “Oh shit,” he murmured.

“Get in the car,” Jett ordered.

April obeyed without a word, careful only to appease Jay. The cries seemed to subdue as they climbed into the car. Jett climbed in front and slammed the door hard enough to make a point. Jay wasn’t appreciative of that and started another series of wails.

“I know you’re mad at me, but can we leave it until we reach home and I manage to make Jay stop crying?” April said.

“Sure,” Jett replied. “But get ready for some serious ass-kicking.”

“All right,” April said and gulped. 

Jay seemed content with the grownups finally falling silent, and April succeeded in making him forget all about the nasty man from earlier or that his daddy was pretty much pissed with the help of a squeaky toy.

***

“Sit,” Jett ordered.

He was so fucking pissed that he had no idea where to start. After a short moment of deliberation, he went out and searched for a particular thing in the tool shed. April’s pretty green eyes followed him and grew wide. 

Without a word, Jett grabbed the rope and caught April’s hands behind the chair.

“Wow, wow, wow! Seriously, man, don’t you think we should talk first?”

“Talking doesn’t work with you,” Jet replied. “I told you to stay put. Now I’m opting for a more efficient method.”

April tried to move his hands, but his wrists were well secured together. Jett could now read slight fear in those big green eyes. With an annoyed gesture, Jett took April’s glasses. 

The dweeb blinked a few times. “What’s next? Waterboarding?”

So he was a punk, too, even when he was scared. Jett straddled the chair, placing himself on April’s lap.

“Seriously, dude, you’re heavy.”

“Oh, are you a little uncomfortable?” Jett cooed mockingly. “Now listen here, fool, ‘cause I won’t repeat myself. You do not leave the fucking house.”

The blinking repeated. “Would you take that finger out of my face? Is it one or more? I have a sudden need to count them.”

Jett brought his hand back and smacked April upside the head, not too hard, but enough to draw attention. “You’re not drunk.”

“Just blind.”

“Stop pulling my leg. Your eyes are not that bad.”

“It’s true,” April admitted with the sigh. “Which means that I will see quite clearly what you’re going to do to me, right?”

Jet pursed his lips. “What part of ‘you’re not allowed to go out’ wasn’t clear?”

“Hmm, the part where I am a human being, I need to go to school, and also Jay needs fresh air because we’re not prisoners here? Wait, are we prisoners? Both of us?”

Jett set his jaw hard. “You’ll be going out. With me. But your fucking classes need to wait.”

“Wait? For what?”

Jett caught April’s chin and made eye contact. “That’s not for you to know.”

April’s eyes grew wide. “Are you afraid someone might try to kidnap Jay? Because you’re a gangster?”

“I’m not a gangster, idiot,” Jett hissed. 

Hmm, actually, an opportunity was presenting itself. Jett caressed his short beard in thought. 

“Your eyes are thinning again. You’re scary. Just for the record,” April said quickly.

“Who was that asshole?” Jett decided to change the topic. It was supposed to be easy to fool April, but under those big beautiful eyes, Jett felt a tiny, just a speck, really, out of ideas.

“What asshole?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. The moron who grabbed you in front of the school.”

“Um, ah … someone.”

“Details, dweeb, details,” Jett insisted.

“Like his security number and dental records?”

“Are you still going about that gangster crap?”

“Sorry, just my mind … wait, why do you want to know?” April appeared suspicious now.

Jett enjoyed the closeness. He liked the warmth coming off April, and to look at him. April was a pretty boy, that was for sure. Could Theo grow up to be like this? Maybe he would never know.

A bird in the hand… whatever that saying went. 

“He made Jay cry. For that, he’s on my list,” Jett replied. 

“Let’s not make it more than it was. He’s just an idiot who’s bugging me because of a stupid kiss --”

April’s lips made a small o and then withdrew like they were trying to swallow themselves. 

“Kiss? Did you kiss that moron?” 

“Actually, it was more like he kissed me --”

“Why the hell did you kiss him?”

“Hello,” April said, “he kissed me. And I would point out at myself to make a bigger point, but my hands are tied.”

“Is he gay, then?” Jett asked.

“No,” April said with a deep sigh. “I just seem to make straight boys kiss me lately.”

“What straight boys? More than one? Do you run a kissing booth or something?”

April threw him a loaded look. “Really, dude? I was talking about you.”

Jett took a moment. Talking about things that could throw him off balance. “Then here’s another rule. You’re not allowed to kiss other boys.”

“Other?” April’s eyes glinted with mischief. 

Jett could feel a bit of frustration growing. “You know what I mean.”

“Of course. I’m not allowed to leave the house, to attend classes, and now, on top of it all, I’m supposed to be a monk. Wait, what if they kiss me?”

“They won’t. I’ll be around.”

“Ha, very funny. You have your job, whatever that is, and that means you’re not around all the time.”

“Are you going to call guys over to hook up?” Jett asked that, only half-joking.

There was a possibility for April to play the field. With that cute face and even cuter butt, most probably, a lot of gay dudes were game.

April seemed horrified by the question. “Are you nuts? With Jay here? And, for the record, I don’t hook up.”

“Then what about that asshole?”

“It was a party, he was drunk, and it just happened. And that can’t count as hooking up. Someone saw us, and we didn’t, well, advance from that point.”

“Good,” Jett said, now relieved. “So you never, never hook up?”

April sighed dramatically. “No, dad. I never hook up. And unlike you, I believe in waiting for that special someone.”

“Seriously? Are you a virgin?” Jett burst into laughter.

April got red in the face to the tip of his ears. “At least I’m not plowing the fields from here to Antarctica with my dick, like you.”

Jett’s laughter died. He studied April for long seconds, but the green eyes didn’t back down. Instead, they sustained the stare, in what looked pretty much like a declaration of war.

Except that Jett was in no mood for war, at all. What he was in the mood for was within reach. Without hesitation, he grabbed April by the front of his shirt and pulled him into a kiss.

A small sound of distress was the immediate answer, and Jett realized that he had accidentally made April’s arms stretch against the restraints. He shifted their position only slightly, and brought one hand to the back of April’s head, to bury it into the spiky blond hair. 

It was so easy to kiss April. Ever since he discovered sex, Jett had decided to err on the side of caution and avoid looking at guys like that. In a way, he had just played it safe. In another, a deeper one, he knew that he couldn’t taint the memory of that kiss from Theo. 

Apparently, it was enough for this dweeb to waltz into his life, and he instantly forgot about that. Not forgot-forgot, but there was no guilt in kissing April.

Actually, it was pretty damned fun. And sexy. Jett used his teeth to bit softly April’s lips. It appeared that the virgin boy didn’t care that much about waiting for that special someone, after all. 

April was, without a doubt, kissing him back. His tongue was like a weasel, going in and out before Jett could catch it and taste it properly. A bit annoyed, he pulled April’s head down a bit and deepened the kiss. Jett pushed his tongue in, and damn, April’s tongue was frigging sweet.

He was pretty sure his hard-on was now pushing into April’s stomach, but he didn’t want to pretend anymore. He liked this, and April was, sort of, in his care. Therefore, Jett could taste his mouth as much as he wanted. 

He brushed his lips over April’s time and time again. It looked like April was moving his head, not to escape, but to chase back, and Jett really digged that. 

“Awesome,” he whispered as he broke the kiss.

April looked at him with guilty eyes. “Don’t you think we should check on Jay or something?”

Jett looked over at the table, at the receiver left there. “That one sleeps like a baby. Now, where were we?”

“Stop,” April said. “Isn’t enough that the female population is in jeopardy across the globe, because of you?”

“Are you in any danger?” Jett asked.

“I’m practically tied up to a chair, in a frigging kitchen, with a guy who weighs a ton crushing my dick. Also, I need to pee. Like really bad.”

Jett smirked. “I think you have a boner.”

“And I think you should wipe that smile off your face because that’s a hard dick close to your ass. And it’s all because I need to pee. You know, like morning wood or something. Not because I like you or anything. So that you know.”

Jett stood up quickly.

“Thank you. You were crushing me,” April pointed out.

“Are you trying to say I’m fat?”

“Just big-boned and it’s not a euphemism in your case.”

“Have you always been such a smartass?”

“Rumor has it that yes, I’ve always been like that. My mom told me that my first words, barely out of the womb were: got milk?”

Jett laughed. “You’re so full of it.”

“If by it, you mean piss, yeah, I am. Could you please untie me? We can continue the torture session later.”

“You’ve seen nothing.”

“I bet,” came the terse reply.

Jett had an urge to crash that sarcastic mouth with his lips again but decided against it. No matter how good it felt to kiss April, he needed to stop. His sanity was at stake.

April smiled as Jett released him from his constraints. “Now I know for sure I’d never be into BDSM.” He rubbed his wrists with a small wince.

“Just go and come back.”

“What if Jay needs me? I’ll go see him, too.”

“Jay is not the only guy who needs you in this house.”

The soonest the words left his mouth, Jett knew it had been a stupid thing to say.

“Sorry if I make a poor torture victim. Blame it all on my small bladder,” April replied, seemingly not at all taken with Jett’s unusual confession.

Danger averted. Good thing the dweeb took everything lightly. Although, Jett could sense April was far from superficial. The little kid seemed well taken care of. An airhead couldn’t have done that.

***

April breathed in and out a couple of times and threw some cold water on his face. Playing with Jett was off-limits. Not done. Dangerous. The guy was straight. He had a kid. Probably a girlfriend. Or more.

“I should start thinking in longer sentences if I want to get somewhere,” April murmured to himself.

That somewhere was lost in a dense haze, for now. And Jett was a great kisser, or at least good enough to make April throw caution to the wind. No, he needed to stop that because he was not thirteen and he could keep his lips and the need to kiss Jett to himself.

But what was he to do since Jett was always the one to initiate the kiss?

TBC


	6. A Walk In The Park

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jett, April, and Jay go for a walk in the park. Warning: this chapter might contain extra silliness. Don't say I didn't tell you!

Chapter Six – A Walk In The Park 

“Get ready. I’m taking both of you outside.”

April looked up from the bed where he lay close to Jay, confessing to his stupidity in a low voice, knowing that the kid didn’t judge him. He was a pretty good listener, too.

Eventually, the torture session had been averted and postponed indefinitely since it appeared that Jett was no longer in the mood. That was fine by him.

“Outside where?” April asked.

“In the park or something. Isn’t that where all the kids go to play and stuff?”

It was clear as day that Jett didn’t have a plan and was making things on the go.

“You didn’t get a stroller,” April said. “How are we going to carry Jay there?”

“In that thing you took him to your stupid classes,” Jett replied promptly. “And I’m going to carry him.”

“Why you?”

“Hey, it’s my kid. Do you want him to tell me, one day from leaving for college, that he never saw me and I didn’t pay him any attention?”

April snorted. “You want him only because he’s a perfect chick magnet.”

“Chick magnet? Seriously? Is that what you’ve been using my son for?”

“You seem pretty convinced now you’re his dad. Did you find his mother?”

April already knew the answer, but he wanted to hear Jett opening up about that woman called Carina. He couldn’t ask directly, but he was damned curious, and also something else that he didn’t want to think of since it would ruin his good reputation in front of his own eyes.

“Not yet. It looks like not one of my ex-girlfriends had a baby one year ago or so.”

“Your photo album is choke-full with women. Are you sure you’re not missing something?”

“Hey, I know who I fucked and if I used a rubber or not.”

“Maybe you were drunk and can’t remember now.”

“I don’t get drunk. Unlike stupid assholes who kiss you only when they got enough liquid courage --”

“Are you jealous of Dan? Is that why you’re pissed at me?”

“Yeah, sure. I’m not interested in you, dweeb,” Jett replied, his eyes darting to one side like he couldn’t look April in the face for some reason.

“Just in kissing me then,” April said back.

Jett just ran a hand over his face and pretended to ignore him, by going over to Jay and starting to coo to him like a daddy bird.

“Are we just going to ignore it, then?”

“What’s to ignore?” Jett didn’t take his eyes off his son.

“It’s fine, really. I need to know if we ignore it and that’s all. So can I get a straight answer?”

Jett turned his head toward him and watched him for a few seconds.

“I know my face might look like I’m always joking,” April made a gesture to sustain his words, “but I’m actually serious. And here it is, an easy way out. It never happened.”

Jett smirked. “You wish.”

April rolled his eyes. “What kind of straight dude are you? Do you want to forget about the kiss or not?”

“Kisses,” Jett pointed out. “There were two.” He put up one hand and scissored the air with two fingers.

“Really? Who’s counting?” April crossed his arms over his chest.

“Do you want to go out or not?”

“I do. Let me just get everything we need.”

“I’m going to bring you some clothes to wear,” Jett said and sauntered toward the door. “You won’t go out like that.”

“Why?” April asked, disoriented. “What’s wrong with my clothes? Are we hitting some afternoon cocktail party? With a baby in tow?”

Jett seemed completely unbothered by April’s questions, and went out the door, whistling.

April shrugged. Jett was a weirdo. But damn, he was a great kisser. Only thinking of that was enough to make his cheeks hot. Right, he needed to get a hold of himself, go to the bathroom, throw some water on his face, and hope that Jett would never kiss him again.

***

Jett searched through the clothes left on one side of the closet that he didn’t throw out. More than one of his exes hadn’t cared about coming back for their stuff, and Jett hadn’t cared about getting rid of it, either.

After some deliberation and profound thinking, Jett took out something and grinned with complete satisfaction. April would make such a face, but it was worth it. He liked seeing April making faces. The dweeb was expressive; it was like his entire face morphed depending on what kind of emotions he was going through. If he weren’t into crypto mining, he could be an actor. 

The thought gave him pause. Was April playing him? Was he reading the signs wrong? Jett didn’t want to think of such things. April liked him, and that was final. He grabbed the clothes and marched back to the bedroom April shared with Jay.

“You’ll wear this,” Jett said and threw the pink tracksuit at April.

“Are you kidding me?” April grabbed the clothes and then kept them away like they were a foreign thing, and alien creatures would come crawling out of them any second now.

“You can’t go out in yours.”

“Seriously? Why?”

“It’s punishment,” Jett said right away. “For going to school.”

“OMFG.” The look of horror in April’s eyes was so damned funny.

However, Jett kept a straight face.

“This thing is vintage or something? It says ‘juicy’ on the fucking bottom of the fucking pants! Fucking ‘juicy’!”

“Tsk, tsk, tsk. Should Jay hear you talk like a trash bin?”

April bit his lips. His voice lowered. “I’m not wearing this. It’s a girl’s tracksuit.”

“She never wore it. I bought it for her, but she didn’t even get around to trying it.”

“Why?” April’s eyes thinned.

“I have no idea what you’re imagining. She just didn’t like this shade of pink,” Jett said airily.

April threw the tracksuit in his face. “I have no business wearing your girlfriends’ clothes.”

“Why?”

“Why? Are we really having this conversation? It would look weird on me. I’m a guy.”

“You have plenty to fill up that ‘juicy’ bottom,” Jett said with a smirk.

April scoffed. “Did you stare at my ass a lot then? Seriously, this is not a conversation to have in front of Jay.”

“Then change into the clothes I brought for you, and let’s get out already. Ah, you’re not wearing your glasses, either.”

“What a slave driver,” April murmured.

“Hey, it’s that, or we all stay indoors all day long.”

“No way.”

“Then hurry. You wouldn’t want me to spend all day staring at your ass, right?”

April took the tracksuit back with a sigh and headed out.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to the bathroom to change, obviously.”

“Can’t you do it here?”

“And offer you a free show? No way.”

“What if I pay?”

“Stop being a moron, you straight idiot,” April threw over one shoulder as he stormed out of the room.

Jett laughed and plopped on the bed, next to his baby. “What do you say, buddy? It’s easy to rile up April, right?”

Jay watched him with curiosity. Jett turned on one side and offered his son a finger. Jay grabbed it and pulled it. Jett laughed, and Jay giggled, too.

***

April sighed as he took a look at himself in the mirror. What was Jett after? Maybe he just liked to annoy him, but April had a feeling that there was more to it than what appeared on the surface. Just like the things with the kisses, and yeah, there had been two, and he knew how to count. And he had counted, too.

At first glance, Jett was a regular punk, a bit hipsterish, but who wasn’t these days? He looked good, the fucker, and he had grown to be a truly handsome man. The short beard made him look a little older than his age, and April had a suspicion that was what Jett wanted.

But beneath that surface, the rivers ran deep. That had been something April had known instinctively when they met the first time, at thirteen. He hadn’t had the vocabulary or the emotional maturity to put it in words like that, but he had known Jett was more than met the eye. 

Jett was always ready to fight, fists up. He was the one to brush everything off like it was nothing. But under that rough exterior, April had touched, even if shortly, a soft core. He wasn’t sure that was the same thing under the wraps, but Jett wasn’t shallow. 

Whatever. April pouted as he looked in the mirror again. He was reading too much into everything. Jett was an ass for making him wear a bright pink tracksuit, which, on top of everything, was made for a girl. 

If there was one thing Jett was right about, however, April tried to pull the pants up as much as he could, that had to be that he had enough to fill the bottom. 

Eventually, with a sigh, he gave up. He would have to wear the pants hanging low because otherwise, the cut would practically show off his dick too much. April winced as he tried to adjust it; he didn’t need someone else to tell him he was big in the downstairs department, at least for his skinny frame. It was quite the miracle how he could have such ass and dick while barely having meat on his bones otherwise. Or maybe it was just a matter of perspective. Because he was so skinny, other things appeared big.

“April, did you fall in the shower or something?” Jett knocked on the door.

“Coming,” April replied.

He opened the door and stared at Jett with what he hoped looked like murder written all over his face. Jett offered him a satisfied grin in reply. Then he grabbed April by one elbow and turned him. A small slap over his ass followed. 

April turned in shock and pushed Jett back. “Cut it out, moron.”

“Juicy, indeed,” Jett commented.

With annoyance, April worked his cock again. The damned thing didn’t feel that comfortable in that getup. 

“Wow, you’re packing some heat, dude,” Jett said. “Or did you stuff a sock in there?”

“See how this is a terrible idea?”

“Let me just fix it for you.”

April yelped as Jett grabbed him by the waist with one arm, and pushed his hand in the front of his pants in one fluid motion. He squirmed as his dick was manipulated around through his underwear until it ended up pointing up.

Jett was away from him just as fast as he had approached him. “Much better now, right?”

“It’s stupid, and you know it,” April said, trying to brush away that Jett had just practically touched his dick. 

“Okay, I’ll grab a longer hoodie for you, but you’ll wear the pants,” Jett said.

“Finally, some sense,” April replied and shook his head.

***

They were out the door ten minutes later. April climbed in the back of the car with Jay and his seat while Jett climbed in front. 

“The moment we are out, you pull the hood up. Understood?”

“What? Are you ashamed of being seen with me or something?” April asked, grudge clear in his voice.

“Yeah,” Jett said. “I don’t go out with dudes, usually.”

“Then how about you leave this dude right here out of it? What? Did Dan calling you queer bruise your ego or something?”

“I don’t give a shit about stuff like that,” Jett said with a shrug.

“Language,” April warned. “Seriously, I’m afraid what Jay is learning from us both. For the record, I’m saying stupid things only because of you.”

Jett laughed. “Of course. Of us two, you’re the angel.”

“Sure thing I am,” April said. “I’m the virgin one.”

 _Not for long if I can help it_ , Jett thought. Now, where had that come from? Maybe it was better if he just focused on his driving. Why on earth did he care about stuff like that?

Sure, April had lips sweet like frigging heaven, and also, a perfect juicy bottom. But that was all. Jett didn’t do dudes, only girls. 

If it were for him to meet Theo again … no, that was the past. Maybe Theo was married with kids. Well, maybe nothing that dramatic since they weren’t that old, but hey, Jett also had a kid, although he wasn’t married. Nothing was impossible. He was just chasing shadows, and yet, he still hanged on that memory like it was a lifeline for him.

They stopped in front of the park, and April got out and took Jay with him. Jett waited patiently until they were out. He smiled when he saw April pulling his hood up, as indicated. As much as he ran his sexy mouth, April was good at taking orders. 

Jett gestured with his chin. “Come on, give Jay to me. Strap me with that thing.”

April mumbled something, but handed Jett the carrier and said in a few words how to put it on. Then he helped Jay inside the carrier while cooing endearing words.

“You’re talking to my kid a lot more than to me,” Jett pointed out.

“He’s better company. A real charmer, I say.”

“Hmm. Let’s roll, then. Go a few rounds and back home, right?”

April threw him a killer look. “No way. We do the whole thing. We go to the sandbox, we chase each other, and we have a snack. I got it all ready right here.” He patted the knapsack he brought with him.

“Chase each other?” Jett pointed at the baby hanging from his neck. “Can he even do that?”

“Just watch it,” April warned him. “Jay is quite the prodigy. He can walk on his two tiny feet faster than you, I bet.”

“I’ll take that bet,” Jett replied. “I’m sure I can beat a baby.”

April gestured at him to shut up. “Hush, don’t say that so loudly. People will think you mean it.”

“What? I’m faster,” Jett protested.

“You’re a bad daddy,” April said and wagged the finger at him.

“Ah, you want me to pretend I lose,” Jett said.

“Oh, what do you know? The moron daddy is, luckily, not that slow. In the head. In case you were wondering,” April added, for good measure.

“I didn’t know Jay could walk.”

“As much as a one-year-old can. Actually, better. Told you. Quite the prodigy.”

“That’s my boy,” Jett said proudly. “Now grab my arm.”

“Why? I’m not a cripple,” April protested.

“Grab my arm and shut up. Weren’t you saying that you’re blind or something?”

“I’m not blind,” April replied, but finally took his arm.

“That’s better.”

“I hope you know how this looks like. We’re two dudes with a baby, and I’m hanging on your arm. Everyone will think we’re married. They might even think I’m a chick.”

“Not my problem that you don’t do sports and you’re skinny.”

April made a small wince of disgust. “Sports.”

“Actually, I saw you running like a fucking rabbit.”

“Language.” April squeezed his arm.

“All right. Jay, just don’t pay attention to your daddy when he talks smack, okay?” Jett talked to the baby.

Jay was far too engrossed in looking around to pay too much attention to them. He just looked up at his daddy with his clear eyes. Jett handed him one finger. Yeah, that worked every time. He started laughing.

“You like Jay,” April pointed out.

“What’s not to like? He’s a baby. It’s not like he has done anything in his life, except eat, sleep, and poop, right?”

“Right,” April said dryly. “Let’s see how you feel after he throws some mashed carrots right in your face.”

Jett laughed. “That’s why I have you. You’re my human shield.”

April shook his head and smiled. “There’s a good person under this whole gangster persona, after all, right?”

“I’m not a gangster, dweeb.”

“You were ready to beat me up for not paying.”

“Ah, that. That was work. And I don’t hit girls, anyway.”

April muttered something under his breath.

“What are you mumbling about?”

“I’m not a girl.”

“Well, you’re cute like one. I can tease you.”

“I’m a guy. Don’t play your straight fantasies with me. I won’t start wearing frilly dresses or whatever.”

“I could make you.”

“Don’t.”

Jett snuck his hand behind April and pinched his butt. “I’m just pulling your leg. With that thing you have in pants, it’s hard for me to think of you as a girl.”

“Good,” April said, and he seemed relieved. “Hey, did you just pinch my butt?”

“Yeah.”

“We’re in a park. There are people. And kids. And dogs.”

“Are you worried dogs would judge you for having a juicy ass?”

“I’m just worried we might get thrown out by an angry mob scandalized by such behavior, but whatever.”

Jett laughed. “April Summer, you’re a dweeb and a fool, but you’re fun, my dude.”

“Glad to be able to entertain you, my liege. I can’t remember when I applied to become the court jester, but I’m content I qualify.”

They found a spot on the grass that wasn’t already taken and April placed a blanket dutifully on the ground. He took Jay from the carrier and Jett watched in disbelief while the kid began trotting about, giggling, while April encouraged him.

“I had no idea he was old enough to walk.”

April threw him a lopsided grin. “He’s a great kid. Now, you go over there and call for him.”

Jett threw a few glances around, but it looked like everyone was absorbed with their own families and games. Jay almost stumbled, but valiantly continued his race as April was hurrying by his side, ready to catch him, just in case. Jett grabbed the baby and lifted him, making his giggles louder.

It was fun having a kid. Even if Jay wasn’t his, Jett was pretty sure his perspective on babies was changed entirely.

***

April was carefully feeding Jay, who was, to his surprise, less fussy now than at home. It had to be the fresh air and the activity making him hungry. April stole a few glances at Jett who appeared to be completely relaxed and enjoying the pleasant weather. He was leaning back on his elbows and had a smile of his face that made April think Jett was pleased with something.

“You said that you didn’t find Jay’s mom,” April started.

Jett threw him one lazy look. “When are you going to feed me, too?” 

“Feed you? What are you, two?”

Jett grinned. “Put food in my mouth.”

“All I got for us is some crackers. You took me by surprise. I would have made some sandwiches or something. Next time, more planning in advance, please.”

“Yeah, sure. Throw some at me.”

“What? Crackers?”

Jett nodded. With a sigh, April reached for his knapsack. He took a handful of crackers and threw it all in Jett’s face. Jay began clapping, very much amused, it seemed.

April could barely hold it in, as Jett made first a surprised face and then pretended to growl. He then picked a cracker from where it fell on the blanket and was about to throw it into his mouth when April snatched it.

“Hey, that’s not nice. Don’t eat things that have been on the floor.”

“Hey, it’s a blanket, and it’s clean. And I’m hungry. It’s your fault you threw food at me.”

“All right,” April said, without hiding his exasperation. “Here.”

He held one cracker with two fingers. Jett leaned in just enough to grab it, quite delicately for someone of his size. His caramel eyes flashed at April, and April felt his heart skip a beat.

What the hell were they doing? April took out the bag of crackers and pressed it against Jett’s chest. “Here. Just tell me when you need water.”

The next minutes were spent in silence, as April focused on feeding the baby. 

“Who’s Carina?” he asked.

Jett stopped from munching his crackers. “You eavesdropped.”

“Yeah. Is she that girl with the spiky hair?”

Jett just nodded and looked away. April had a feeling it wasn’t that much of a great idea to prod him further, but at this point, he couldn’t help himself.

“Could she be Jay’s mom?”

Jett shook his head “Nah. She’s in the can. But you know that since you listened.”

“Prison? What for?”

“I don’t know the details. The thing is she had no baby, and she couldn’t have left Jay by my doorsteps. Also, she never called me an asshole, even when I deserved it. You know, like that note said. And she would never leave a baby like this.”

“Maybe she had no choice,” April said. “As for calling you an asshole, maybe she changed her mind.”

Jett didn’t appear to taste the joke. “I’m telling you, man. She can’t be.”

“Did you wish she were?” April asked, his heart growing a bit small.

Jett wiped his mouth and pushed aside the bag of crackers. He shrugged and brushed off the question. But April had a feeling he knew the answer to that one. 

“So there’s a possibility someone messed up and left a baby by your doorsteps. A baby who’s not yours, and not any of your ex-girlfriends’.”

Jett cracked his neck and grimaced.

“Stop it with that. It’s a bad habit.”

“Oh, yeah? Well, it’s none of your business.”

The words weren’t spoken with ill will, but April recoiled a little. 

“We can’t keep Jay if he’s not yours.”

“And do what with him? Give him to some strangers to put him in the system?”

April shook his head. “You’re right. For all we know, he might be yours. And I wouldn’t give him away.”

“Good. That’s the attitude, dweeb,” Jett said, and it already seemed like he was no longer upset.

April breathed out in relief. He was no closer to finding out about Carina, but at least he knew Jett’s heart was in the right place.

***

As soon as they were back, and April took Jay upstairs for a nap, the atmosphere in the house seemed to change. April could sense it, although he had never thought of himself as some psychic. 

Jett was plopped in front of the TV, but the frown on his face told anyone looking that he was thinking of something and it was nothing pleasant.

April had a feeling that he would better see about other stuff to do than prod Jett about what seemed to bother him. However, he had never been good at ignoring people who were upset, so, with the risk of getting the short end of the stick in all that and be told to fuck off, he went directly at Jett, and put himself between him and the TV.

“Hey, I was watching that,” Jett protested, but his eyes moved to set on April. 

“Right. What’s the show about?”

“I don’t know. Penguins and stuff,” Jett replied with a shrug.

April moved just enough to let the screen come into view. Contestants in some stupid reality show were forced to eat insects. “Penguins. Sure.”

Jett turned off the TV and looked at April. “Now that you’re here, what do you want?”

“You’re in a bad mood.”

“So? What do you care?”

The question resonated like a marble ball, a dull sound in the sand. April remembered that other time when Jett had said that. But then was then, and now was now.

“I don’t. You’re just ruining my Zen. Do you have any idea what your bad vibes can do to this house?”

“You’re really into hippy shit. I don’t give a damn. And, by the way, it’s your fault. Why do you want to know about Carina?”

April took a second to weigh things. Whatever. He went straight for it. “She was special to you. She might still be. Are you thinking about visiting her?”

“I don’t know where she is, exactly, and whoever answered her phone was too pissed to tell me anything.”

“This person, who was it?”

“I don’t know. Some chick. Maybe Carina’s sister.”

“Have you met her then?”

“Once, but only in passing. Let’s say we can’t stand each other’s guts. And I’m not sure if that was her, on the phone. I suppose it was.”

“Are you afraid of a girl?” April snickered.

Jett shot him a crossed look. “Carina’s not Jay’s mom. End of story. And Jay looks nothing like her.”

“When they are so little, it’s hard to tell who they look like. Anyway, Jay seems to be a natural with girls. When I got to school this morning, all my female friends were all over him. Jay must be your kid, at least, or this much success with the ladies would be uncanny.”

Jett smiled. April was a bit relieved. But the war was still ahead. 

“Come on, what’s the story with Carina? Was she the one and you let her get away?”

Jett just shook his head and looked away. “Nah. That happened before.”

“What?”

“I let someone get away.”

“Then search for that girlfriend.”

“It wasn’t a girlfriend,” Jett replied.

“Ah, your charm didn’t work on that one, huh?”

Jett threw him a dubious look. April had no idea what to make of it. 

“You know what? Forget it. I thought it might make you feel good to talk, but it looks like you’re not the type,” April concluded.

“Wait,” Jett called after him.

April turned, feeling hopeful, but not daring to show it.

“Did you come down here because you wanted to make me feel good?”

April nodded, again hoping that his enthusiasm didn’t make him appear too eager.

“Then there’s something you can do,” Jett said with a smirk.

Some of the earlier enthusiasm faded like mist. April cocked his head and looked at Jett cautiously. “What?”

“Come closer.”

Two words, but they were enough. Something of Jett’s voice, when it dropped low like that, made April feel all putty on the inside. And, he told himself, with a huge mental sigh, just like the many women in Jett’s life, he had not one ounce of kryptonite to deal with this guy.

TBC

**Author's Note:**

> For additional content and other M/M works I create, check out [my original fiction blog](https://laurasfox-originals.tumblr.com).


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